American Oil and Gas Reporter - April 2019 - 96

SpecialReport: Gulf of Mexico Update

NMR Key In Tornado Project's Success
By Ben Winkelman,
Talmadge Wright,
Javier Omar Borri
and Segun Jebutu
HOUSTON-Talos Energy Inc.'s Tornado exploration project is part of the
company's Phoenix development complex
in 2,700 feet of water in Green Canyon
Blocks 236/237/280/281. Talos became
operator of the Phoenix Field in 2013
with its acquisition of Energy Resource
Technology.
In 2016, Talos as operator and partner

Deep Gulf Energy (since acquired by Kosmos
Energy), drilled the Tornado discovery well
in Green Canyon 280, encountering four
Pliocene pay sands in a large three-way faulttrapped structure. The discovery well was
subsequently sidetracked for updip appraisal
in Green Canyon 281, and cased and completed in the B-6 sand. The Tornado 1 began
producing in late 2016 through subsea infrastructure connected to the dynamically positioned Helix Producer I floating production
unit, stationed in Green Canyon 237.
The Tornado 2 drilling program was
initiated in 2017. It consisted of an ex-

FIGURE 1
Real-time Magnetic Resonance Data Transmitted While Drilling
(Tornado 2)

2,000
4,096

FIGURE 2
Native Fluid Properties from Magnetic Resonance Fingerprint (B6 Sand)

500ms

96 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

1,000ms

ploratory test penetration to evaluate the
B-6 and other sands downthrown in a
fault block adjacent to the Tornado 1,
followed by a sidetrack to the exploratory
well to develop the B-6 sand and penetrate
a downdip secondary fault trap within
the three-way structure penetrated by the
discovery well. The Tornado 2 exploratory
well encountered 222 feet of net oil pay
in the B-5 and B-6 sands.
The Tornado 2 sidetrack delineation
well extended the reservoir's proved limit,
logging 297 feet of pay in the B-5 and B6 sands. Drilled to a total vertical depth
of 21,057 feet by the Ensco 8503 drillship,
the sidetracked well was completed and
began producing in December 2017, with
the Tornado 1 and 2 wells flowing to the
FPU at a combined gross rate of 24,00027,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day.
In December 2018, the Noble Don
Taylor rig reached a total depth of 21,600
feet on the third Tornado well, which
logged 200 feet of pay. The Tornado 3
is scheduled to come on line within the
next few months at an expected gross
production rate between 10,000 and
15,000 boe/d.
An important element in Talos Energy's
success on the Tornado project is a comprehensive reservoir characterization study
that has integrated a number of advanced
evaluation technologies to fully understand
the complex geologic environment and
guide planned appraisal penetrations. The
data analyzed as part of the study include
high-resolution geological borehole imaging, nuclear porosity measurements,
formation pressure-while-drilling, wireline
logs, core, 3-D seismic and loggingwhile-drilling nuclear magnetic resonance
(NMR) to fully understand porosity, permeability and fluid composition independent of anisotropic effects in the laminate-turbidite setting.
Turbidite Lobes
The Pliocene reservoir is comprised
of a stacked succession of turbidite lobes
and amalgamated sandstone layers. Deepwater lobe turbidites are difficult to model
geologically, but can be prolific producers
once their stratigraphic setting and stacking
architectures are understood. Variability
in rock quality distribution, permeability
and flow barriers, and structural faulting
strongly impact productivity and the development strategy for economic hydro-
American Oil and Gas Reporter - April 2019

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