Offshore staff
PERTH, Australia — Woodside Energy has issued an update on plans for some of the field developments it inherited through its acquisition of BHP’s petroleum division.
At the company’s Investor Briefing Day presentations, Shiva McMahon, executive vice president of International Operations, said Woodside was planning for the end of production from its shallow-water fields offshore Trinidad and Tobago by the end of this decade, while maximizing value from the remaining reserves.
“This year,” she explained, “we’ve been able to increase the daily production by approximately 10% through screening and execution of ideas from our teams.”
Actions included converting gas injectors into producers to produce the gas cap before the end of field life; adding perforations to capture gas from unswept reservoir zones; and reducing backpressure on wells, by operating the facilities differently than when the production rates were higher.
“Now looking into the future, we see Trinidad and Tobago as an advantaged region, with existing infrastructure and favorable demand outlook. So we’re continuing to progress Calypso in the deep water," McMahon said. "We have selected an infield host as the preferred development concept and are making really good progress on commercial and marketing fronts as well.”
In the US Gulf of Mexico, the company brought Shenzi North onstream within budget and ahead of schedule. There have been various complex work scopes to take care of at the Shenzi TLP including tying in the Shenzi North wells, and a maintenance turnaround that included use of a helicopter to replace the flare tip, which she described as a high-risk operation.
“While it’s early days, we’re watching reservoir connectivity, and we expect a peak rate could be around 10,000 bbl/d. The change…to a more efficient flare tip that has reduced our flare gas emissions by circa 10%.
“In April, we also brought online Mad Dog Phase 2, or Argos, which has been ramping up and has a capacity of 140,000 bbl/d. Following the appraisal well in the southwest of the field, we are already in the process of finalizing plans for a multi-well subsea tieback.”
11.10.2023
