BP has filed an exploration plan for the DeSoto Canyon area in the deep-water US Gulf of Mexico, its first step towards potential drilling in an area where the UK supermajor picked up some 30 blocks in lease sales last year.

The document, filed 5 February, calls for drilling up to eight wells on DeSoto Canyon Blocks 357, 358 and 401 in about 7800 feet of water. The full plan, with details like a prospect name and planned schedule, is not yet publicly available. BP declined to comment.

BP leased the DC 357 block in 2018 and paid $750,526. The UK supermajor has three rigs running in the US Gulf at present: the Seadrill drillships West Capricorn, West Vela and West Auriga.

The areas in the plan lie about four three-mile blocks east of Shell's Vicksburg discovery, which lies just east of the Appomattox discovery.

The prospect is also not far from the site of Anadarko's successful 2013 Raptor discovery, which lies two three-mile blocks to the east and four blocks to the south in DC 535. The US independent later relinquished that tract and records do not indicate a new owner.

The far eastern Gulf has been one of the few areas attracting top interest from majors with a presence in the region in recent lease sales.

Last August, BP picked up 10 blocks in DeSoto Canyon and 15 in the ultra-remote Lloyd Ridge area.

That added to the outlay already made in March 2018, when the UK supermajor grabbed almost 20 blocks in the DeSoto Canyon area of the eastern Gulf.

Regulators said at the time the area of interest could be the Norphlet, as well as a younger play.

Last August, ExxonMobil also stepped up its interest, bidding a total of $40.5 million for 25 blocks showing a big appetite for acreage in the eastern side of the Gulf.

Ten of those areas were also in DeSoto Canyon, with 15 in Lloyd Ridge.

The new interest comes as recently as five to six years ago, the eastern Gulf and the Norphlet were among the hotter exploration fairways in the region, attracting attention from the likes of Anadarko, the Norwegian explorer then known as Statoil and ConocoPhillips.

Shell ultimately hit big with Appomattox, now set to come online later in the year via a 170,000 barrels-per-day semi-submersible platform, but other companies struggled with success through a range of early poor results and attention shifted to what was then seen as a discovery bonanza in the Lower Tertiary.

But much of that momentum was lost with the oil-price crash, and with high costs and complexity for Lower Tertiary finds, top industry players appear to be giving that side of the region another look.