Nansen Field was discovered in May 1999 by Kerr-McGee Corporation and Ocean Energy and fast-tracked to first production in January 2002. Named after the great Norwegian explorer, zoologist and humanitarian Nobel peace prize winner of 1922 Fridtjof Nansen, the field is located in the western Gulf of Mexico in East Breaks Block 602, approximately 160 miles southwest of Houston.

The field was initially characterized as a “bright spot”with a Class 3 AVO anomaly-supported gas field;, but after the first several wells were drilled, numerous gas/oil contacts were discovered with significant downdip oil potential in sands thickening to the south. The amplitude anomalies turned out to be large gas caps on top of considerable oil legs. The reservoirs are associated with structural traps consisting of three stair-stepping NNE–SSW trending normal fault compartments containing Pliocene/ Pleistocene turbidite sand reservoirs with very good sand quality. Despite the drilling of approximately 30 dry-tree and subsea wells in the initial exploitation phase, no downdip oil/water contacts have yet been penetrated.

The pre-drill reserve estimate was about 117 MMBOE; the current estimate for both the NW Nansen and Navajo subsea tie-backs is about 225 MMBOE. The field, at a water depth of 3650 ft, produces from a Truss SPAR design facility with a capacity of 40 MBOPD and 250 MMCFD. Currently, 9 dry-tree wells and 6 subsea wells produce oil and gas at 19 MBOPD and 105 MMCFGPD. Recently identified prospects to the south could add an additional 55 MMBOE to the Nansen total estimated ultimate recovery. The Pliocene/Pleistocene deepwater reservoirs still have great potential with ever expanding opportunities resulting from using new and advanced highquality seismic data and 3D visualization techniques.

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