Anadarko reports a Miocene discovery at the Samurai prospect in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico in Green Canyon block 432. The discovery well, located approximately 12 miles north of the Marco Polo platform, encountered more than 120 feet of net oil pay in several high-quality sands.

"Samurai marks our third discovery in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico this year," said Bob Daniels, Anadarko Sr. Vice President, Worldwide Exploration. "We are very pleased with the results of this initial well, which is located in close proximity to existing infrastructure, demonstrating the value of our hub-and-spoke approach. We look forward to drilling a sidetrack appraisal well within the next year. The continued success of our worldwide exploration program reinforces our expectations of discovering approximately 350 million BOE (barrels of oil equivalent) of net resources in 2009, which is a 50-percent increase from the expectations we communicated at our investor conference in March of this year."

Samurai was drilled using the Belford Dolphin drillship. The well is located in approximately 3,400 feet of water and was drilled to a depth of about 31,700 feet. Anadarko operates the block with a 33.33-percent working interest. Partners in the discovery include Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR) and Samson Offshore Co., each with a 33.3-percent working interest.

Anadarko is mobilizing the Belford Dolphin to West Africa to commence drilling on the company's Venus prospect in Block SL-6/07 (50-percent working interest) offshore Sierra Leone followed by its South Grand Lahou prospect in Block 105 (55.88-percent working interest) offshore C?te d'Ivoire. Both prospects have seismic signatures and characteristics similar to the world-class Jubilee field offshore Ghana. Following these drilling activities, Anadarko plans to move the drillship to begin the company's multi-well, deepwater drilling program offshore Mozambique.

Tags: Anadarko Petroleum Corporation