Drilling started yesterday at the Main Pass 19 G-5 well in 12 metres of water. Petsec expects the well will take 20 days to reach a total depth of 2,191 metres.

The wells are being drilled from the company’s recently installed Main Pass 19 plaform, 128km southeast of New Orleans. They are aimed to test the mapped potential of about 15 to 18 billion cubic feet of gas net to Petsec, it said.

The first two wells, Main Pass 19 G-4 and Main Pass 19 G-7, both made commercial gas discoveries.

The Main Pass 19 G-4 well reached total depth on January 12 and encountered eight productive sands with an estimated 43 metres of net gas pay.

Spudded on December 11, the Main Pass 19 G-7 exploration well had reached total measured depth of 2267 metres and intersected four productive sands with an estimated 20-23 metres of net gas pay.

Petsec is the operator and has a 55% working interest and 45.83% net revenue interest in the field.