MCS to design 17 SCRs for world's deepest riser

Riser engineering consultants, MCS have received a contract from Atlantia Offshore Ltd. to deliver the riser design for theIndependence Hub gas-gathering facility in the ultra-deepwater Gulf of Mexico. Located in 8,000 ft of water in Mississippi Canyon block 920, the project represents the world's deepest risers and floating production facility.

MCS is responsible for providing detailed engineering to Atlantia and will deliver the design of 17 SCRs gathering and exporting from existing and future wells. "Independence Hub is a frontier Gulf of Mexico project that represents the leading edge of deepwater design. MCS's work with Atlantia on the riser engineering represents a milestone industry step-out to ultra-deep water technology," said Kieran Kavanagh, president of MCS.

Five independent oil companies and a midstream energy company came together to facilitate the development of multiple ultra-deepwater natural gas discoveries in the previously untapped Eastern Gulf of Mexico. Independence Hub is an affiliate of Enterprise Products Operating L.P., and the Atwater Valley Producers Group, which includes Anadarko, Dominion, Kerr-McGee, Spinnaker, and Devon. The group executed agreements for the dedication, processing, and gathering of natural gas and condensate production from six natural gas fields in the Atwater Valley, DeSoto Canyon, and Lloyd Ridge areas of the deepwater GoM.

Atlantia's deep-draft semi is a new generation semisubmersible that is motion optimized to enable SCRs to be used for the floating production, import, and export risers.

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11/29/04