FMC and BP unveiled the first subsea system for BP's Thunder Horse project in the Gulf of Mexico on April 2. The $250 million FMC Energy Systems – BP Gulf of Mexico frame agreement contract called for FMC Energy Systems to provide subsea trees, controls, manifolds, well connection systems, and related offshore services to BP for its GoM exploration and production activities. The scope of supply covers BP's deepwater development programs in the GoM, including Thunder Horse.
Thunder Horse is in the Mississippi Canyon area of the GoM block 822 and is operated by BP with a 75% working interest. The water depth ranges from 5,600 ft to 6,500 ft. Discovered in 1999, the Thunder Horse field development is designed to use the largest production drilling quarters semisubmersible platform in the world. It will weigh more than 50,000 tons and produce from some of the deepest wells in the Gulf. The facility is designed to process 250,000 b/d and 200 MMcf/d, with first oil expected in 2005. Oil and gas are planned to be transported to existing shelf and onshore interconnections via pipeline within the BP-operated Mardi Gras transportation system.
The FMC Energy Systems subsea system for Thunder Horse is designed to handle temperatures up to 350° F and production pressures up to 15,000 psi, in waters more than a mile deep. As of April, BP has ordered 18 subsea trees from FMC Energy Systems for its Thunder Horse development.
The systems integration test stack, from top down, is comprised of the emergency disconnect package on the lower riser package on the subsea tree on the tubing head spool on the test stump, which had a total height 42.5 ft and total weight of 406,500 lb. Subsea tree dimensions are 13 ft by 13 ft by 13 ft, and the tree weighs 101,000 lb. The first Thunder Horse subsea system is scheduled to be installed in 2003.
04/03/03
