BHP Billiton has spud its Wildling exploration well in the Green Canyon area of the deep-water US Gulf and has lined up another prospect, Scimitar, to follow with a targeted start date in April.

The Australian explorer began drilling Wildling on 8 January in Green Canyon 520 using the Transocean drillship Deepwater Invictus, which recently wrapped up the Burrokeet well in Trinidad.