Oil and gas company Talos Energy has encountered encouraging results following initial LWD data from its operated Bulleit appraisal well located in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

The Bulleit oil appraisal well is located in Green Canyon 21, which is operated by Talos Energy with a 50% interest. Talos' partners are EnVen Energy Ventures and Otto Energy.

Talos started drilling the Bulleit well earlier in May, using the Noble Corp.-owned Noble Don Taylor drillship.

Otto Energy said on Tuesday that the well had been drilled through the DTR10 target sand. The DTR-10 oil sand, which was the shallower target of the Bulleit well, was first discovered in 1984 and had three wells drilled between 1984 and 1987, all of which logged oil pay within the DTR-10 sand package.

According to Otto, Logging While Drilling (LWD) data indicates the DTR-10 sand is well developed at this location, having logged 235 feet of gross true vertical depth (TVD) pay across two main pay sands with a 50% – 60% net to gross ratio and excellent rock properties.

As of 6 am on May 20, 2019, US CDT the well was at 10,615 feet MD.

Bulleit is an amplitude-supported Pliocene prospect with similar seismic attributes to the analogous MP sand section in Talos's Green Canyon 18 field, which has produced approximately 39 MMBoe to date.

The Bulleit prospect sits in approximately 1,200 feet of water and is 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the Talos-owned and operated Green Canyon 18A (GC 18A) platform. Once drilling operations are complete, and pending the results of the deeper, main objective test in the MP Sands, the well would be completed and tied back to the GC 18A facility.

Otto Energy will earn a 16.67% working interest in the Green Canyon 21 (GC-21) lease in the Gulf Mexico through paying 22.22% of the cost of the drilling of the Bulleit appraisal well.

Otto's Managing Director, Matthew Allen, commented: “The initial LWD results from the DTR-10 sand are very encouraging compared to the pre-drill estimates. We are excited about the remaining deeper exploration target of the well – the MP sand.”