MURPHY Oil is drilling ahead on two key wells in the US Gulf of Mexico, one targeting a major exploration prospect and the other aiming for a new play at an ongoing development. Transocean drillship Deep-water Aasgard is currently on location in the Atwater Valley Block 138, drilling the Oso-1 exploration probe, while Noble drillship Stanley LaFosse has just spudded the Samurai-5 well in Green Canyon Block 432, according to tracking data from marine intelligence provider Ves-selsValue. Oso-1 is targeting a prospect that could house resources of between 155 million and 320 million barrels of oil equivalent, where Murphy's partners are privately owned Ridgewood Energy and recent farminee Occidental Petroleum, each with one-third stakes. Oso lies close to other prospects that Murphy may drill, including Liberty, Rushmore and Guilder. Murphy chief executive Roger Jenkins last week told analysts that if this well is successful it could "lead to extensive value creation that we've seen... from exploration discoveries of Dalmatian and Samurai, both incredible fields for us today". He described Oso as "a very nice opportunity for us, something that we've home grown and we're quite proud of".
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