GULF OF MEXICO

Meanwhile, the company says it continues hook-up and commissioning of the Tahiti spar, with first production expected in the second quarter of this year. All six production wells have been completed. The platform has capacity for 125,000 b/d of oil and 70 MMcf/d of natural gas. Tahiti holds estimated recoverable resources of 400-500 MMboe.

ATP revises Telemark area development

In the southern part of the Telemark Hub area development, ATP has revised its drilling and production program at Atwater Valley block 63 to include a subsea well which will connect to the MinDOCATP Titan. ATP says this revision will result in an increase in production rates through the floating production platform in 2010 and 2011, and an immediate cost savings, as MinDOC II, originally scheduled for installation at AT 63, is postponed and will be used at another ATP location in the future.

ATP Titan, designed with capacity to process 25 MMb/d of oil and 60 MMcf/d of gas, is scheduled for sail-out and mooring in the middle of this year. The platform has a design life of 50 years.

Source: BP and Wood Mackenzie.

In the northern part of the Telemark Hub, three wells were drilled and 22-in. (56-cm) casing was set at Mirage (Mississippi Canyon block 941) and Morgus (Mississippi Canyon block 942).ATP Titan will be moored initially at Mirage/Morgus to complete the wells to targeted TVDs of 14,600 ft (4,450 m) to 17,250 ft (5,258 m) for production.

Source: BP and MMS.

After the reserves at Mirage and Morgus are drained,ATP Titan is scheduled to be moved to AT 63 where it will recover the remaining reserves. First production at ATP-operated Telemark Hub is expected in late 2009 or early 2010.

Meanwhile, in another cost-saving measure, ATP has secured a partner to invest in its floating production platformATP Innovator. GE Energy Financial Services will invest $150 million for a 49% stake in the facility.

“Our partnership with GE Energy Financial Services, especially in today’s troubled economic times, will ensure continued production of much-needed domestic oil and natural gas, and will allow ATP to maintain its development program,” says Paul Bulmahn, chairman and CEO of ATP. “We depend on investors like GE, which has the financial strength, energy expertise, and long-term vision necessary for an investment of this magnitude.”

ATP Innovator, designed with capacity to process 20,000 b/d of oil and 100 MMcf/d of gas, is moored at the Gomez Hub in Mississippi Canyon block 711. ATP plans to connect additional third-party reserves to the platform in 2010.

Thunder Horse ramping up to capacity

Six wells are flowing through the Thunder Horse production, quarters, and drilling platform at a combined rate of 260,000 b/d of oil, making it the second largest producing field in North America, after Prudhoe Bay, said Andy Inglis, BP’s chief executive of Exploration & Production, during BP’s 2009 strategy presentation. Inglis said they have more than enough wells to fillThunder Horse to capacity which is 280,000 b/d of oil.

With Thunder Horse online, BP is the largest resource holder and producer in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. The company will add to this later in the year when it brings on the second phase of Atlantis.

“Delivery of Thunder Horse has been technically challenging, but the technology developed and applied here will benefit the next wave of our developments in the deepwater GoM,” Inglis said.

BP’s GoM exploration program through 2015 targets three main areas:

• Expansion in the Miocene play fairway that has delivered Thunder Horse and Atlantis, and includes the development projects Dorado, King South, Puma, Tubular Bells, Kodiak, and Freedom
• Continued exploration in the Paleogene, where the Kaskida discovery is located
• Exploration of a new deep gas play in the shallow water.