Talos Energy Achieves First Production at Tornado Attic Well

Talos Energy Inc. recently brought the Tornado Attic well online—a first of its kind project in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico’s Green Canyon area, the Houston-based offshore operator revealed in an operations update on July 26.

The Tornado Field was discovered in 2016 and is located approximately three miles south of the Talos’ Phoenix complex. The Tornado Attic well is the third sidetrack well at the Talos-operated project and was successfully drilled in June.

Talos said in a release on July 26 it executed completion operations for the Tornado Attic well and achieved first production in mid-July. The well is currently producing above the previously estimated 8,000-10,000 boe/d range.

“The project is the first intra-well waterflood of its kind in a deepwater subsea environment and is intended to increase overall production and recovery efficiency through the existing subsea producing wells,” the company said in the release.

Talos initiated the intra-well waterflood project in 2020, drilling an injection well which sources water from a large aquifer above the producing B-6 Sand, a process known as a “dump flood.”

The Tornado Attic well and was drilled approximately 4,500 ft from the Tornado waterflood injection well and 1,550 ft away from the closest existing producer well. Drilling operations were conducted from the Seadrill West Neptune rig and encountered approximately 85 gross (63 net) ft of true vertical thickness pay in the B-6 Upper Zone with rock properties and reservoir consistent with internal modeling and pre-drill expectations.

On July 26, Talos said it had also increased injection rates in the structurally downdip Tornado injector well and is now injecting at a rate of over 30,000 bbl/d of water into the producing B-6 formation. 

To date, the Tornado Field has produced approximately 34 million boe gross, approximately 80% of which is oil. Talos acquired the Tornado Field in 2013 and holds a 65% working interest as the field’s operator alongside partner Kosmos Energy.

Additionally, on July 26, Talos announced it had successful drilled the company’s Crown and Anchor well in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and has moved the project to the completion phase.

“Our operations team provided exceptional execution in what was the most active portion of our capital program for the year and I’m pleased that we've delivered strong sequential production over the past two quarters, which does not include the impact of these two latest wells,” commented Talos President and CEO Timothy S. Duncan in the release on July 26.

Crown and Anchor, a sidetrack well at Viosca Knoll block 960, was drilled to a true vertical depth of approximately 13,000 ft and encountered approximately 50 ft of net true vertical depth oil pay in the M62 Middle Miocene target horizon.

Talos said the Crown and Anchor well will produce through existing subsea infrastructure to the Marlin tension leg platform, requiring nominal additional tie-back costs, with first production targeted by late third-quarter 2021. Talos holds a 34% working interest in the project along with Beacon Offshore Energy (operator) and Ridgewood Crown & Anchor LLC.

“Our high-quality asset base is delivering solid results, and in combination with commodity price support and continued balance sheet improvement, we're excited to move into the second half of the year focused on numerous strategic initiatives,” Duncan continued. “We look forward to providing a broader update in our upcoming earnings release.”

Talos Energy will report its second-quarter earnings results on Aug. 3.

In the July 26 release, Talos announced preliminary production estimates for the second quarter including estimated average daily production of approximately 66,000 boe/d net, ahead of company expectations. Further, estimated realized prices for the quarter, exclusive of hedges, were $64.28/bbl of oil, $22.28/bbl of NGL and $3.05/Mcf of natural gas.