Offshore staff
HOUSTON – bp has started oil and gas production from the Thunder Horse South Expansion Phase 2 project on Mississippi Canyon block 822 in the Gulf of Mexico.
The project is southeast of the bp-operated Thunder Horse platform in 6,350 ft (1,935 m) of water.
The initial two-well tieback is expected to increase output at Thunder Horse by 25,000 boe/d at peak. The Phase 2 project consists of two subsea drill centers operated by 10-in. dual flowlines. Eventually eight wells are expected to be drilled.
Located 150 mi (241 km) southeast of New Orleans, Thunder Horse is designed to process up to 250,000 b/d of oil and 200 MMcf/d of natural gas. bp has a 75% working interest with ExxonMobil holding 25%.
Ewan Drummond, bp senior vice president, projects, production and operations said: “This project is a great example of the type of fast-payback, high-return tieback opportunities we continue to deliver as we focus and high-grade our portfolio.”
The Phase 2 start-up is part of bp’s plans to grow its Gulf of Mexico oil and gas production to around 400,000 boe/d net by the mid-2020s. The company operates four production platforms in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico – Thunder Horse, Atlantis, Mad Dog, and Na Kika. A fifth platform, Argos, is expected to come online in 2022.
Thunder Horse South Expansion Phase 2 completes the company’s program of five major project start-ups planned for 2021. Together with the early start-up of the Matapal subsea tieback project in Trinidad, bp has brought six major projects onstream this year.
09/28/2021
