StatoilHydro And Exxon Announce New Deepwater Discovery

Norwegian oil and gas company StatoilHydro and US oil major ExxonMobil have announced a "promising" hydrocarbons discovery in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Julia discovery well, southwest of New Orleans, is located in 2,000m of water and was drilled to a total depth of 9,500m.

Julia is the first well drilled in deepwater Gulf of Mexico under a 2005 exploration agreement between the two companies.

Further appraisal drilling is planned in 2008 to determine the extent of the discovery.

StatoilHydro, the third largest leaseholder in deepwater Gulf of Mexico, is developing two other significant discoveries in the same area - Jack and St Malo - which are not scheduled to come onstream for another five years.

By staff writer