Offshore staff
HOUSTON – After a 16,000-mi (25,750-km) journey from South Korea, the Argos FPU has arrived at the Kiewit Offshore Services fabrication yard in Ingleside, Texas.
Construction of the 60,000-ton platform – with a deck the length and width of an American football field – began in March 2018 at the Samsung Heavy Industries shipyard in South Korea. It was transported to Texas over the past 60+ days onboard the Boskalis heavy transport vessel BOKA Vanguard.
While in Texas, Argos will undergo final preparatory work and regulatory inspections before heading offshore. According to bp, it is expected to support about 800 jobs during the work in Ingleside and about 250 jobs once in operation.
Following work at Kiewit, Argos will be towed to its offshore home in the Gulf of Mexico. The semisubmersible production platform will be installed about 6 mi (10 mi) from the original Mad Dog spar, about 190 mi (306 km) south of New Orleans. It will operate in 4,500 ft (1,372 m) of water.
At peak, the facility is expected to produce up to 140,000 boe/d through a subsea production system from 14 production wells. It will be connected to and export oil and gas through nearby existing pipeline infrastructure. Reserves recovery is expected to be boosted by injecting 140,000 b/d of processed seawater into the reservoir through water injection wells, adopting bp’s proprietary LoSal enhanced oil recovery technology.
Start-up of the $9-billion Mad Dog 2 project is planned for 2Q 2022.
Argos will be the company’s fifth operated platform in the Gulf of Mexico – and the first new platform since Thunder Horse began production in 2008. It is expected to provide bp with growth potential and an estimated 25% increase in production capacity in the region.
Gordon Birrell, executive vice president, production & operations, said: “This is a major step towards the delivery of one of bp’s most significant projects in recent years. When Argos is fully in place, Mad Dog 2 will be set to deliver resilient barrels from one of the most prolific basins in the world, strengthening our position in the Gulf for years to come.”
04/13/2021
