Dominion E&P Successfully Appraises West Cameron 100 Shelf Discovery
Dominion Exploration
and Production, Inc., a subsidiary of Dominion (NYSE:D), recently drilled the
West Cameron (WC) 100 #2 well to delineate its previously announced WC 100 #1
discovery. The WC 100 #2 well was drilled to 16,000 ft. true vertical depth
in 41 ft. of water and encountered 155 ft. of gas pay in three Marg A sands
from 13,000 to 14,000 ft. subsea. This pay is an increase compared to the 140
net feet of gas pay found in the discovery well. The #1 and #2 wells have been
completed and flow tested. Each well tested at rates of 20-25 million cubic
feet of gas per day (MMCFGPD). Potential reserves for the field are estimated
at 100-150 billion cubic feet of gas equivalent (BCFE) making this field a significant
shelf discovery.
A production platform and facilities with a design capacity
of 80 MMCFGPD will be installed in late July. An 8-inch, 6-mile gas/condensate
pipeline will connect the platform to an existing 30-inch pipeline system. Production
is scheduled to commence during September 2002. This yields an excellent project
cycle time of 8 months from discovery to first production and only 14 months
from lease award to first production. Dominion E&P owns a 100% working interest
in WC 100.
The West Cameron Miocene trend is a core area for Dominion
E&P's Offshore Business Unit. The company has producing fields at WC 76
and WC 130 along with the discovery at WC 100. They have a total of 18 blocks
in this trend including six blocks recently awarded from OCS Lease Sale 182.
Eleven of the blocks are undrilled. Dominion E&P plans to drill two to three
exploratory wells in the trend this year and an equivalent number in 2003.
Duane Radtke, President and CEO of Dominion E&P said,
"Our success at West Cameron 100 is indicative of our commitment to our
Shelf program. We believe that our participation in the 'deep gas' play will
continue to produce attractive returns for years to come."
Dominion has a diversified and integrated energy portfolio
consisting of nearly 24,000-megawatts of generation, 5.1 trillion cubic feet
equivalent of natural gas reserves, 7,600 miles of natural gas transmission
pipeline and the nation's largest underground natural gas storage system with
more than 950 billion cubic feet of storage capacity. Dominion also serves 3.9
million franchise natural gas and electric customers in five states and nearly
one million unregulated retail customers in eight states. For more information
about Dominion, visit the company's web site at www.dom.com.
This press release contains forward-looking statements.
The company wishes to caution readers that the assumptions which form the basis
for forward-looking statements with respect to or that may impact earnings for
fiscal 2000, and thereafter, include many factors that are beyond the company's
ability to control or estimate precisely, such as estimates of future market
conditions and the behavior of other market participants. Other factors include,
but are not limited to, weather conditions, economic conditions in the company's
service territories, fluctuations in energy-related commodity prices, conversion
activity, other marketing efforts and other uncertainties.
