Thunder Horse may gallop soon
Filed from Houston 6/13/2008 7:08:51 PM GMT Energy Current
USA
NEW ORLEANS: In a conversation with Reuters, Caryl Fagot, spokeswoman for the U.S. Minerals Management Service (MMS), was reported as saying that BP's Thunder Horse field is about to begin early production, with the company notifying MMS that production is scheduled to begin June 14.
When asked, a BP spokesman said that the company had no comment on whether production would begin, adding that Thunder Horse remained on track to begin production before the end of 2008, but declining to give a more specific date or confirm Fagot's comments.
The Thunder Horse field is in Mississippi Canyon Blocks 778 and 882, 150 miles (241 km) southeast of New Orleans in the Gulf of Mexico. When operational, the Thunder Horse semisubmersible will be the largest production semi ever built and one of the Gulf of Mexico's largest producers. Thunder Horse is designed to process 250,000 b/d of oil and 200 MMcf/d of natural gas, drawn from 25 subsea wells. BP is the operator of Thunder Horse and owns a 75 percent interest, with ExxonMobil holding the remaining 25 percent.
Production at Thunder Horse was delayed due to the need for repairs on the subsea manifold. The platform was evacuated after it began to list during the 2005 hurricane season, and equipment was left in a cold state on the sea bed. The subsea equipment was determined to have become brittle and unable to perform under high pressure. BP stated that all subsea components at risk would be retrieved and replaced before production begins.
AI
