Italy's Eni announced Aug. 2 an oil find in Upper Miocene sequences on the Sayulita exploration prospect offshore Mexico. Located in Block 10 in the mid-deep water of the Sureste Basin, the new find may contain between 150 and 200 Mboe in place, according to preliminary estimates.

Sayulita-1 EXP exploration well, which has led to the oil discovery, is the seventh successful well drilled by Eni offshore Mexico in the Sureste Basin and the second commitment well in the block. It is located approximately 70 kms off the coast and just 15 kms away from the previous oil discovery of Saasken, which was drilled by the Valaris 8505 Semisub rig in a water depth of 325 m, reaching a total depth of 1758 m ssl.

Sayulita-1 Exp encountered good quality oil mineralization in the Upper Miocene sequences with an overall net pay of over 55 m. The reservoirs show excellent petrophysical properties. An intensive data collection has been carried out on the well and the data acquired indicate a production capacity for the well of up to approximately 3,000 barrels of oil per day.

The discovery, which follows the Saasken 1 EXP find last year, confirms the value of the asset and opens up the potential commercial outcome of Block 10 since several other prospects located nearby may be clustered in a synergic development. 

Holding a 65% stake in the block, Eni serves as the operator. Partners are Lukoil (20%) and Capricorn, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cairn Energy PLC (15%).