Anadarko Samurai well makes oil discovery

Oil and natural gas exploration and production company Anadarko Petroleum Corp. on Wednesday said its Samurai well in the deep water Gulf of Mexico made a significant oil discovery.

The well, drilled using the Belford Dolphin drillship, encountered more than 120 feet of net pay, the thickness of the rock that can deliver oil to the well. It is located in about 3,400 feet of water and was drilled to a depth of about 31,700 feet, the company said. Anadarko operates the block with a 33.33 percent working interest. Murphy Oil Corp. and Samson Offshore Co. are partners in the discovery, each with a 33.33 percent working interest.

Anadarko said it plans to move the Belford Dolphin drillship to West Africa to start drilling on the company's offshore Sierra Leone Venus prospect, in which it has a 50 percent working interest. Later the company will put the drillship to use at its offshore Cote d'Ivoire Lahou prospect, in which it has a 55.88 percent working interest. After these activities, the company plans to move the Belford Dolphin to begin the company's multi-well, deep water drilling program offshore Mozambique.

Other current drilling activity includes the Vito prospect in the Gulf of Mexico, which Anadarko expects will produce results in the coming weeks. The company has a 20 percent working interest in the well. The company noted that its activities at the Turtle Lake Lower-Tertiary prospect located in the Gulf of Mexico, in which it has a 20 percent working interest, and at the Gouda pre-salt prospect offshore Brazil, in which it has a 30 percent working interest, were unsuccessful.

The company also said it expanded its crude oil and natural gas hedges for June, July and August of 2009.

Shares of Anadarko rose $1.26, or 2.9 percent, to $44.94 in morning trading. Murphy Oil shares gained 73 cents to $52.22.