v3.26.3
Property, Plant and Equipment
 9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2026
Property, Plant, and Equipment [Abstract]  
Property, Plant and Equipment
Note D – Property, Plant and Equipment
Exploratory Wells
Under FASB guidance, exploratory well costs should continue to be capitalized when the well has found a sufficient quantity of reserves to justify its completion as a producing well and the Company is making sufficient progress assessing the reserves and the economic and operating viability of the project.
As of September 30, 2026, the Company had total capitalized drilling costs pending the determination of proved reserves of $494.1 million. The following table reflects the net changes in capitalized exploratory well costs during the nine months ended September 30, 2026 and 2025.
(Thousands of dollars)20262025
Beginning balance at January 1$191,821 $72,055 
  Additions pending the determination of proved reserves317,581 43,091 
  Reclassifications to proved properties based on the
  determination of proved reserves		(4,646)— 
  Capitalized exploratory well costs charged to expense(10,627)— 
Balance at September 30$494,129 $115,146 
Capital additions of $317.6 million, for the nine months ended September 30, 2026, were mainly for exploration wells including the Bubale-1X (Block CI-709) and Bubale West-1X (Block CI-103) wells in Côte d’Ivoire; the Hai Su Vang-3X (Golden Sea Lion), Block 15-1/05 and Lac Da Trang (White Camel) North-1X, Block 15-1/05 wells in Vietnam; and the Banjo #1 (Mississippi Canyon 385) and Cello #1 (Mississippi Canyon 385) wells in the Gulf of America.
In the third quarter of 2026, Murphy successfully appraised the Bubale discovery offshore Côte d’Ivoire with the Bubale West-1X well, which encountered approximately 88 feet of net oil pay in the Turonian reservoir and
additional hydrocarbons in the deeper Albian reservoir. The Company also announced an oil discovery at the Lac Da Trang (White Camel) North-1X exploration well offshore Vietnam, encountering approximately 131 feet of net oil pay. Murphy also achieved first oil from the Lac Da Vang (Golden Camel) development offshore Vietnam.
In the second quarter of 2026, Murphy announced a discovery at the Bubale-1X (Block CI-709) exploration well in Côte d’Ivoire, with the well encountering 100 feet of net pay across two reservoirs. In addition, Murphy concluded the Hai Su Vang (Golden Sea Lion) appraisal program for Hai Su Vang-2X (Block 15-2/17), Hai Su Vang-3X (Block 15-1/05) and Hai Su Vang-4X (Block 15-2/17) appraisal wells in Vietnam.
In the first quarter of 2026, Murphy announced the successful discoveries of the Banjo #1 and Cello #1 (Mississippi Canyon 385) exploration wells in the Gulf of America, which encountered 50 feet and 30 feet of net pay, respectively. In addition, the Company announced a successful appraisal well Hai Su Vang-2X (Golden Sea Lion), Block 15-2/17, in the Cuu Long Basin, located approximately 40 miles offshore of Vietnam.
Capital additions of $43.1 million, for the nine months ended September 30, 2025, were mainly for the Hai Su Vang-1X (Golden Sea Lion), Block 15-2/17; and Lac Da Hong-1X (Pink Camel), Block 15-1/05 exploration wells in Vietnam and long-lead equipment for the Cello #1 and Banjo #1 (Mississippi Canyon 385) exploration wells in the Gulf of America.
Capitalized well costs charged to dry hole expense of $10.6 million, for the nine months ended September 30, 2026, were primarily related to the Caracal-1X (Block CI-102) exploration well in Côte d’Ivoire, which was plugged and abandoned as a dry hole after encountering non-commercial hydrocarbon shows. There were no capitalized well costs charged to dry hole expense for the nine months ended September 30, 2025.
The preceding table excludes well costs of $76.1 million incurred and expensed directly to dry hole for the nine months ended September 30, 2026. In 2026, these costs primarily related to the Civette-1X (Block CI-502) exploration well in Côte d’Ivoire, the Caracal-1X (Block CI-102) exploration well in Côte d’Ivoire, and the Hai Su Vang-4X (Golden Sea Lion), Block 15-2/17 appraisal well in Vietnam. There were no capitalized well costs charged to dry hole expense for the nine months ended September 30, 2025.
The following table provides an aging of capitalized exploration costs based on the date the drilling operations were initiated for each individual project.
September 30,
20262025
(Thousands of dollars)AmountNo. of ProjectsAmountNo. of Projects
Aging of capitalized well costs:
Zero to one year$10,571 1 $17,562 5 
One to two years344,780 3 75,171 3 
Two to three years120,946 3 — — 
Three years or more17,832 2 22,413 3 
$494,129 9 $115,146 11 
Of the $483.6 million of exploration well costs capitalized and classified as more than one year at September 30, 2026, $261.4 million was in Côte d’Ivoire, $114.0 million was in Vietnam, $105.5 million was in the Gulf of America, and $2.7 million was in Brunei. In all geographical areas, either further appraisal or development drilling is planned and/or development studies/plans are in various stages of completion.
Property Additions
During the third quarter of 2025, the Company purchased additional working interest in the Eagle Ford Shale, in acreages primarily operated by Murphy, for $23.0 million.
During the first quarter of 2025, Murphy purchased a floating production storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) from BW Offshore (UK) Limited for a gross purchase price of $125.0 million. The Pioneer FPSO remained on location, supporting operations at the Cascade field (Walker Ridge 206 and 250) and Chinook field (Walker Ridge 469 and 425) in the Gulf of America. BW Offshore (UK) Limited continues to provide operations and maintenance services under a five-year contract that began in 2025.
Impairments
There were no impairments in the three and nine months ended September 30, 2026. There were pretax impairments of $115.0 million ($92.0 million excluding NCI) in the three and nine months ended September 30, 2025. The impairment related to the partial write-down of the Dalmatian field in the Gulf of America due to reserve reductions, as certain projects in the field were less competitive for capital allocation.