Located about 274km southeast of New Orleans, the well was drilled by the Transocean drillship Discoverer Spirit in 3500 feet (1067m) of water.

BHP group president of energy, Philip Aiken, said the discovery was a “very encouraging result.”

“We will be working with our partners to determine next steps, including the drilling of a sidetrack from this wellbore to further delineate the lateral extent of the oil sands we’ve found thus far,” Aiken said.

BHP has a significant deepwater position in the Gulf of Mexico, with interests in nearly 450 lease blocks. Its assets include Mad Dog, which started production earlier this year, and the Atlantis and Neptune fields, currently in development.

The company also has deepwater discoveries under appraisal at Cascade, Chinook and Shenzi.