Anadarko Petroleum Corporation announced a discovery at the Vito exploration well in Mississippi Canyon block 984. The well encountered more than 250 net feet of oil pay in subsalt Miocene sands.

"We are very excited with the initial results encountered at the Vito well," said Bob Daniels, Anadarko Sr. Vice President, Worldwide Exploration. ?The success at Vito continues to demonstrate the tremendous quality of our deepwater portfolio of high-impact prospects. We expect to drill two additional prospects that are targeting similar subsalt Miocene objective sections along this trend at our Silverado and Haleakala prospects in Mississippi Canyon in 2010. In the meantime, the partners will continue evaluating the data from Vito and the timing of an appraisal well."

The Vito well was drilled to a total depth of approximately 32,000 feet in 4,038 feet of water, using the Noble Amos Runner deepwater drilling rig. Once operations are complete at Vito, the company plans to move the rig to continue drilling operations at the operated Caesar/Tonga development in the Green Canyon area of the Gulf of Mexico.

Anadarko operates the Vito well with a 20-percent working interest. Co-owners in the discovery include Shell Offshore Inc. with a 55-percent working interest and StatoilHydro USA E&P Inc. with a 25-percent working interest. Shell will assume operatorship of Vito after rig release on the current well.