W&T Offshore, Inc. announced a significant discovery at the Ewing Banks 954 A-8 exploratory well located in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. The well, which recently reached total depth, represents the second discovery in a two-well drilling program from the EW 910 platform. This second well follows the earlier discovery at the ST 320 A-5 well in May 2015, which was also drilled from the EW 910 platform. W&T is operator of EW 910 field and owns a 50% working interest in the well.
The EW 954 A-8 well penetrated a total of 150 feet of measured depth hydrocarbon pay contained in two sands. Completion operations are currently underway with a planned two-zone completion. Following facility tie-in, first production is expected during the first quarter of 2016. Although no well flow tests have been conducted, based on formation evaluation data, we currently anticipate producing the well from the two zones at a restrained gross rate of approximately 2,300 Boe per day.
Tracy Krohn, W&T Offshore's Chairman and CEO, stated, "Based on our seismic analysis, we had high expectations for the reserve potential of the EW 954 A-8 exploration well, and we are delighted that the well appears to have exceeded our pre-drill estimates. We are especially pleased with the high quality pay sands found in the A-8 well, which should allow for higher reserve recovery. This discovery also helps de-risk several additional opportunities we have identified as part of our future plans to drill and develop the area. With this discovery we have extended our track record of 100% exploration success with the drill bit to almost three years."
