| VIEW FROM THE TOP
STEADY HANDS OPEN MEXICO’S NEW OFFSHORE FRONTIER TIMOTHY DUNCAN CEO of Talos Energy
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Q: So far this year, Talos has drilled two of three appraisal
A: Talos partnered with our local service providers to make
wells on Zama. How are these wells faring?
sure our logistics operation ran smoothly and that productive
A: We are attempting to open up and develop an Upper
time was not wasted. But as this was only our second well,
Miocene play on Zama. This is the same type of geology
we set very conservative scheduling goals. Moving forward,
that is prevalent in the US Gulf of Mexico and offers superior
we expect to move more quickly and reduce our costs as
rock properties on both sides of the border. Murphy’s
we become more assured in our operations. Our drilling
announcement of its success in Block 5 also confirms
should quicken pace as our team becomes better acquainted
our geological findings. These prolific rock properties,
with the rock. This will result in reducing time and budget
combined with the water depth and well depth we have,
estimates to more realistic levels and they will become more
will ensure the smooth and more robust development
difficult to beat.
and deliverability of this asset as we are able to use fixed structures, dry trees and a future platform rig.
Q: Talos took 714ft of whole core with a recovery rate of 98 percent at Zama-2 ST1. What is the value of the
Our platform in Zama will be the deepest fixed platform
core analysis?
in Mexico’s history, even though it is located in a shallow
A: A company can never achieve better rock property
water area. We already operate three standalone facilities
measurements than with the rock in its hands. Wireline
in water depths over 300m in the US Gulf of Mexico; these
logs are helpful, but the rock itself is the best resource for
water depths are our specialty. Many of the technologies
understanding the properties, fluid content and behavior
used at these depths were developed in the US Gulf of
under different stresses and environments. With a core,
Mexico within the last 30 years and we have employed
tests can be conducted up and down the geological
the majority of them on our platforms.
section, offering far greater insight. The data we acquired will be shared with PEMEX and will ultimately be given to
When we performed the well test in the Zama-2ST well,
the government so that the knowledge of this basin can be
we perforated two intervals with a combined rate of over
advanced and shared. This is Talos’ responsibility and we
7.9 Mboe/d (90 percent oil) with a limited drawdown and
hope our data can help the entire country. We are intending
without any particular completion technique, just a natural
to repeat our core recovery success when we commit our
flow back. As we apply well-completion technologies,
third appraisal well.
we would expect that our estimate could rise. We are comfortable with the guidance on the peak rate, which
Q: What were the strategic reasons behind the cross-
should be between 150Mb/d and 175Mb/d of oil equivalent.
assignment of Talos’ participating interest (PI) in Block 2 and Hokchi’s PI in Block 31?
Talos is in talks with midstream companies regarding the
A: When Block 2 and Block 31 went through bidding, we saw
potential of installing new infrastructure around our asset.
interesting prospects on both. And due to the smaller size
Our discovery is large enough to attract the interest of
of these blocks the ideas that both Talos and Hokchi had for
midstream groups that takes risks on infrastructure. This is
development overlapped into each block acreage. The genesis
exactly what we had hoped for. Any new infrastructure is
for the cross assignment was to progress more quickly on
broadly helpful to the reforms and other operators that may
both blocks by aligning rig programs and timelines. This has
wish to access this infrastructure in the future.
been carried out with our first rig program; one rig will drill two wells on each block. As a result, we only needed to tender
Q: The Zama-2 appraisal well was finished 28 days ahead
once for all drilling rather than tendering multiple times. This
of schedule and 25 percent below budget. How was
saves time in exploration, appraisal and development, and
this achieved?
with success, production can come online sooner.
