Jaime Kammerzell
Gulf of Mexico
Offshore

The deepwater Gulf of Mexico is a place of high risk, David Eyton, vice president, BP Gulf of Mexico deepwater projects, said at the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston on May 5.

Eyton outlined BP's ultra-deep and deepwater GoM projects – Marlin in 2000, Horn Mountain in 2002, Na Kika in 2003, Holstein in 2004, Mad Dog in 2005, Thunder Horse in 2005, and Atlantis in 2006. He said BP's investment in these projects and the technology developed has global significance.

The GoM is still a frontier province and contains unexplored basins. It also features extreme metocean conditions. Eyton cautioned that the ultra-deep is not a place for any operator to take a risk. He said operators in the ultra-deep need the capability to respond to the unexpected. New technology is the enabler to these ultra-deep fields, but also a source of risk. For example, to mitigate some risk BP paid $17 million to conduct a full-scale model test of new pipelay equipment for its Mardi Gras field.

Eyton concluded with a challenge to the industry to develop better exploration tools. The future of the GoM is in the frontier areas in the ultra-deepwater obscured by a salt canopy. "Apply the lessons of the past to take us into the future," Eyton said.

05/05/05