Noble Energy Announces Early Start-up at Big Bend in the Deepwater Gulf of Mexico
October 28 2015 - 4:20PM
Noble Energy, Inc. (NYSE:
NBL) announced today
that the Big Bend oil development in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico
commenced production on October 26, 2015. The single-well field is
ramping as expected and is anticipated to reach a maximum gross
production rate of approximately 20 thousand barrels of oil
equivalent per day (MBoe/d) over the next couple of weeks.
Approximately 90 percent of the volumes being produced are oil. In
addition, the Company has continued to accelerate the Dantzler
development and now expects first production from the Dantzler
field by early November. Big Bend and Dantzler, located in
Mississippi Canyon 698 and 782, respectively, are subsea tiebacks
to the third-party Thunder Hawk production facility. Combined, the
fields are estimated to contribute a maximum net production rate of
20 MBoe/d to Noble Energy.
Gary W. Willingham, Noble Energy’s Executive Vice President of
Operations, said, “We continue to build on our strong track record
of major project execution with Big Bend coming online less than
three years from discovery and within our sanctioned budget. Big
Bend is the first of three major projects planned to come online
for us in the Gulf of Mexico over the next nine months,
contributing significant oil production and cash flow to the
business. Short cycle times to first production, strong well
deliverability, and low production costs from our Gulf of Mexico
projects deliver attractive returns even in today’s
environment.”
Noble Energy operates Big Bend with a 54 percent working
interest. Other interest owners are W & T Energy VI, LLC (a
wholly owned subsidiary of W & T Offshore Inc.) with 20
percent, Red Willow Offshore, LLC with 15.4 percent and Houston
Energy Deepwater Ventures V, LLC with 10.6 percent.
The Company is also the operator of Dantzler with a 45 percent
working interest. Partners include Ridgewood Energy Corporation
(including ILX Holdings II, LLC a portfolio company of Riverstone
Holdings, LLC) with 35 percent working interest and W & T
Energy VI, LLC with 20 percent.
Noble Energy also announced that the Humpback well offshore the
Falkland Islands reached total depth and is being plugged and
abandoned. Humpback was drilled in the Fitzroy sub-basin of the
Southern Area License and encountered non-commercial quantities of
crude oil and natural gas. Full well assessment and the integration
of drilling results into the Company’s geologic models is ongoing
to determine remaining exploration potential in the Southern Area
License. The geologic play including Humpback is only one of a
number of prospect play types in the Southern Area License.
The rig which drilled the Humpback well will be released to
another operator before returning to Noble Energy to spud the Rhea
prospect in late 2015 or early 2016. Located in the Northern Area
License offshore the Falkland Islands and approximately 265 miles
from Humpback, Rhea is in a proven petroleum basin near existing
oil discoveries. Rhea is a Cretaceous-aged prospect with multiple
reservoir targets and total estimated gross mean unrisked resources
in excess of 250 million barrels of oil.
The Company now expects total third quarter 2015 exploration
expense to be approximately $200 million, which includes the
majority of net costs related to the Humpback well.
Noble Energy (NYSE: NBL) is a global independent oil and natural
gas exploration and production company with total proved reserves
of 1.7 billion barrels of oil equivalent at year-end 2014 (pro
forma for the Rosetta acquisition). The company’s diverse resource
base includes positions in four premier unconventional U.S. onshore
plays – the DJ Basin, Eagle Ford Shale, Delaware Basin, and
Marcellus Shale – and offshore in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, Eastern
Mediterranean and West Africa. Driven by its purpose, Energizing
the World, Bettering People’s Lives®, the company is committed to
safely and responsibly providing energy to the world while
positively impacting the lives of our stakeholders. For more
information, visit http://www.nobleenergyinc.com.
Forward Looking Statements
This news release contains certain “forward-looking statements”
within the meaning of federal securities law. Words such as
“anticipates”, “believes”, “expects”, “intends”, “will”, “should”,
“may”, and similar expressions may be used to identify
forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are not
statements of historical fact and reflect Noble Energy’s current
views about future events. They include estimates of oil and
natural gas reserves, estimates of future production, assumptions
regarding future oil and natural gas pricing, planned drilling
activity, future results of operations, projected cash flow and
liquidity, business strategy and other plans and objectives for
future operations. No assurances can be given that the
forward-looking statements contained in this news release will
occur as projected and actual results may differ materially from
those projected. Forward-looking statements are based on current
expectations, estimates and assumptions that involve a number of
risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ
materially from those projected. These risks include, without
limitation, the volatility in commodity prices for crude oil and
natural gas, the presence or recoverability of estimated reserves,
the ability to replace reserves, environmental risks, drilling and
operating risks, exploration and development risks, competition,
government regulation or other actions, the ability of management
to execute its plans to meet its goals and other risks inherent in
Noble Energy’s business that are discussed in its most recent
annual report on Form 10-K and in other reports on file with the
Securities and Exchange Commission. These reports are also
available from Noble Energy’s offices or website,
http://www.nobleenergyinc.com. Forward-looking statements are based
on the estimates and opinions of management at the time the
statements are made. Noble Energy does not assume any obligation to
update forward-looking statements should circumstances,
management’s estimates, or opinions change.
The Securities and Exchange Commission requires oil and gas
companies, in their filings with the SEC, to disclose proved
reserves that a company has demonstrated by actual production or
conclusive formation tests to be economically and legally
producible under existing economic and operating conditions. The
SEC permits the optional disclosure of probable and possible
reserves, however, we have not disclosed the Company’s probable and
possible reserves in our filings with the SEC. We use certain terms
in this news release, such as “estimated gross mean unrisked
resources,” which are by their nature more speculative than
estimates of proved, probable and possible reserves and accordingly
are subject to substantially greater risk of being actually
realized. The SEC guidelines strictly prohibit us from including
these estimates in filings with the SEC. Investors are urged to
consider closely the disclosures and risk factors in our most
recent annual report on Form 10-K and in other reports on file with
the SEC, available from Noble Energy’s offices or website,
http://www.nobleenergyinc.com.
Brad Whitmarsh
(281) 943-1670
brad.whitmarsh@nblenergy.com
John Nicholson
(281) 876-6186
john.nicholson@nblenergy.com
Media Contacts
Reba Reid
(713) 412-8441
media@nblenergy.com
Paula Beasley
(281) 876-6133
media@nblenergy.com
Noble Energy (NYSE:NBL)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024
Noble Energy (NYSE:NBL)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024