Talos announces Daenerys discovery in US Gulf

Talos Energy announced on August 19 that it had discovered hydrocarbons at the Daenerys exploration well in the US Gulf of Mexico.

Daenerys is located in Walker Ridge, across blocks 106, 107, 150 and 151. Talos said the discovery well was drilled to a total vertical depth of 33,228 feet (10,128 metres), using Seadrill’s ultra-deepwater West Vela drillship. The company encountered oil pay in multiple subsalt Miocene sands, which it described as high-quality. A wireline programme was then conducted, acquiring core, fluid and log data in order to evaluate the reservoir.

According to the announcement, the well was drilled roughly 12 days ahead of schedule and delivered about $16mn under budget. Planning is now underway for an appraisal well to further define the discovered resource. Talos said the discovery well had been temporarily suspended in the meantime in order to preserve its future utility.

Talos operates the discovery with a 27% working interest, while Shell Offshore and Red Willow each hold a 22.5% stake in Daenerys, Houston Energy owns a 10% interest and Cathexis and HEQ II Daenerys each hold a 9% stake.

“We are encouraged by the results of our Daenerys discovery well, which confirms the presence of hydrocarbons and validates our geologic and geophysical models,” stated Talos’ president and CEO, Paul Goodfellow. “We believe these results support Talos' pre-drill resource assumptions. We are now working closely with our partners to design an appraisal programme that will further delineate this exciting discovery. We anticipate spudding the appraisal well in the second quarter of 2026."

Data intelligence firm Welligence Energy Analytics commented in a post on LinkedIn that the discovery was “good news” for the Gulf, which has seen “only limited exploration success” in recent years. Welligence added that it was also a boost for Talos, whose business is “heavily weighted” to mature, declining assets. This discovery “potentially brings a material development project into the portfolio”, Welligence noted.

Welligence also said in its post that Talos had stated the results supported its pre-drill resource assumptions. It cited the pre-drill estimate for Daenerys as being 100-300mn barrels. Occidental’s Heidelberg project is located 25 miles (40 km) to the northwest of the discovery and has been identified as a potential host, according to Welligence.

For Seadrill, the work on Daenerys represents the ongoing use of the West Vela drillship by Talos. In May, Seadrill said Talos had opted to extend the rig’s contract into September. Then in its second-quarter results, released earlier in August, Seadrill said the drillship had been awarded a two-well contract in the Gulf by Talos. This latest contract has an estimated term of 90 days, which is expected to begin in mid-November 2025.