Project Profile
Location: Mississippi Canyon Blocks 776, 777 and 778
Water depth: 1,844 m (6,050 ft)
Capacity of Thunder Horse platform: 250,000 bpd of oil and 200 mmcf per day of gas
Capacity of Thunder Horse South expansion: 50,000 boepd
Start-up year: Thunder Horse - June 2008, Water injection project - May 2016, Thunder Horse South expansion - January 2017
Situated in a water depth of 6,050 feet (1,844 metres), the Thunder Horse oil and gas field is located on Mississippi Canyon Blocks 776, 777 and 778, about 150 miles (241 kilometres) southeast of New Orleans, La. Considered to be the deepest and largest oil and gas field ever discovered in the Gulf of Mexico, Thunder Horse produces from two areas, north and south, which are tied-back to one of the largest moored semisubmersible platforms in the world, the Thunder Horse Production, Drilling and Quarters (PDQ) platform. Originally called Crazy Horse,
Discovered in 1999 by the drillship Discoverer Enterprise, the Thunder Horse discovery well was drilled to a total depth of 25,770 feet (7,855 metres). The discovery found 520 feet (158 metres) of net pay in three intervals on the south side of the field. A year later, the appraisal well, Thunder Horse 2, was drilled and reached a total depth of 29,060 feet (8,857 metres). The appraisal well, located in 6,300 feet (1,920 metres) of water, 1.5 miles (2.41 kilometres) southeast of the discovery well, confirmed the previous findings. In February 2001, additional drilling commenced on the north side of the field in order to determine the size of Thunder Horse. The exploration drilling encountered 581 feet (177 metres) of accumulated hydrocarbons in three intervals. The well was drilled in 5,640 feet (1,719 metres) of water by the drillship Discoverer 534 and reached a total depth of 26,046 feet (7,939 metres). Because a prolific amount of hydrocarbons were discovered, BP named this section of the field Thunder Horse North.
The Thunder Horse field was initially scheduled to start producing in the second half in 2005, but hurricane damage and equipment problems interfered with start-up plans. On June 14th 2008, Thunder Horse produced first oil through the Alternative Production System (APS), many of the components of which were installed by Subsea 7. This was completed three months ahead of schedule and represented a major milestone towards the development of this field. Subsea 7 installed the original Thunder Horse umbilicals, control distribution systems, flowline jumpers and flying leads in 2005. Events related to the 2005 hurricane season resulted in the recovery and replacement of some of the installed subsea components, which was also performed by Subsea 7.
Thunder Horse South Expansion
The expansion project boosts production at the facility by an estimated 50,000 gross barrels of oil equivalent per day, further increasing output at one of the largest oil fields in the Gulf of Mexico. The Thunder Horse South Expansion project adds a new subsea production system roughly two miles to the south of the existing Thunder Horse platform. The system is a collection point for wells connected to the Thunder Horse platform by two 11,000-foot flowlines installed on the seabed in late 2016. The facility was brought online 11 months ahead of schedule in January 2017.
Operators:
BP: Operator with 75% interest
ExxonMobil: 25% interest
Contractors:
ATP: Drilling contractor
FMC Technologies: Subsea contract
Subsea 7: Engineering, installation, recovery and re-installation works
Technip: Lump sum project for the design, engineering, fabrication, installation and pre-commissioning of the new production pipeline systems on the south side of the Thunder Horse production drilling quarters unit. Technip will leverage its unique integrated approach in the subsea business. Technip\\\'s operating center in Houston, Texas, USA, will perform the overall project management. The infield flowlines will be welded at the Group’s spoolbase in Mobile, Alabama, USA. The offshore installation is expected to be performed in the second half of 2016 by Technip’s flag ship vessel the Deep Blue. The project scope covers:
- Project management and engineering,
- Coating, fabrication, installation and permanent anchoring of two rigid production flowlines of 3.25 kilometers each with 4 pipeline end terminations,
- Pre-commissioning and testing.