Murphy Oil Corporation's fourth quarter production for 2024 from the United States Gulf of Mexico averaged 68,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), 80% of which was oil.
This is a slight improvement over the third quarter which recorded 67,000 boepd, comprising 79% oil.
The fourth quarter saw the drilling and completion of the Mormont #4 (Green Canyon 478) well, which was followed by a workover on the Samurai #3 (Green Canyon 432) well.
The well workover was one of the reasons for a production impact of a total 10.8 mboepd in the fourth quarter. A delay in the arrival of the offshore rig to start workover operations on the Samurai led to a production impact of 1.4mboepd from the site.
The Samurai well is tied in with Khaleesi and Mormont fields, resulting into a massive infrastructure that produces more than 15000 boepd. While the company has seen a successful drilling campaign of Khaleesi #4 well at Green Canyon 389, it also had to conduct repairs to subsea equipment in the Mormont #2 well (Mississippi Canyon 478) to bring it back to production.
Workover work
A considerable number of workover and sidetrack work kept Murphy busy in 2024, which the company believes are a common occurrence in offshore conditions with high productive wellsites. The Neidermeyer well workeover has been an especially challenging activity for the team.
Usually, reserves-rich, promising subsurface conditions often pose workover requirements to achieve successful production count. There might be a decade-long smooth run or dislocations around minor workover events or well repairing might hit operators every in four-five years; they must be prepared to take these risks and uncertainties before being showered with a good yield.
Successfully in line with all planned workovers in the third quarter, the fourth quarter of 2024 saw a total workover expense of US$30mm for Murphy. This included opertaions of Samurai #3 (Green Canyon 432). For the first quarter of 2025, the company has workover plans on Marmalard #3 (Mississippi Canyon 255), while also bringing the operated Mormont #4 well online.
The Occidental Petroleum-operated Ocotillo #1 exploration well in Mississippi Canyon 40 has been declared a discovery by the partners, more so because it helped bring down exploration expenses. Experts are anticipating it to be a typical Miocene-type tieback opportunity that indicates somewhere between 30 to 60 million barrels.
Overall, Murphy's fourth quarter production for 2024 averaged 175,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), which included 85,000 bopd. Its offshore business remained mostly consistent with the third quarter results, producing approximately 75000 boepd, which included 82% oil.
The company is set to spend approximately US$145mn for its 2025 exploration programme, which includes drilling two operated exploration wells in the Gulf of Mexico.
“We have an ambitious exploration programme ahead of us over the next 18 months, with operated wells planned in the Gulf of Mexico, Vietnam and Ivory Coast, in addition to an appraisal well in Vietnam. This optionality across multiple play types in key basins provides significant resource upside for our offshore business. It is an exciting time at Murphy, and exploration will remain a key differentiator and value creator for our company for years to come,” said Eric M Hambly, President and Chief Executive of Murphy.
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