Project Profile
Value: US$600 million
Location: Approximately 190 miles southwest of New Orleans in the Gulf of Mexico
Estimated proven reserves: 110 million barrels of oil equivalent
Start-up Year: First production mid-2006
Kerr McGee\'s Constitution field is located in Green Canyon blocks 679 and 680, approximately 190 miles southwest of New Orleans in the Gulf of Mexico. The field has estimated proven and probable resources of approximately 110 million barrels of oil equivalent.
The development is based on spar technology. Moored in 4,970ft of water, the spar will initially handle production from the Constitution field and the tied-back Ticonderoga field. The total project costs have been put at around US$600 million. Kerr-McGee holds a 100% interest in Constitution and a 50% working interest in Ticonderoga with Noble Energy accounting for the remaining 50%.
Constitution was appraised by drilling 11 wells into predominantly oil-bearing sands in seven reservoirs. These have an average porosity of 28%, permeability of 800 millidarcies and 32ºAPI gravity. The Pliocene reservoirs are located at depths from 12,500ft to 15,000ft. The development plan for the Constitution field includes five dry trees and one subsea tieback. Previously drilled appraisal wells will be re-employed as part of the final development plan.
The Constitution spar design is based on the Kerr McGee’s Gunnison model to reduce costs and lead times. This has topsides capable of processing 40,000bd of oil and 200MMcfd of gas. The hull is 98ft in diameter and approximately 550ft long. The spar has a 113ft by 159ft workover deck, a 127ft by 162.5ft main deck and a 127ft by 176ft cellar deck. The hull weighs 14,800t and it supports a 10,770t topside payload. It was built by Technip at its Pori, Finland yard. It was then transported to the Gulf Marine Fabricators yard in Ingleside on the Mighty Servant 3.
Ticonderoga will be tied back to Constitution. The field lies in salt mini-basin with hydrocarbons located around the rim. Kerr-McGee has identified seven different hydrocarbon zones in the field. One fault block in the field contains gas while the remaining fault blocks contain oil. With stacked Pliocene reservoirs at a 12,000ft to 15,000ft depth, the initial well encountered more than 100ft of net oil and the second well had more than 350ft. The project covers the installation of two pipe-in-pipe flowlines and steel catenary risers along with Pipeline End Termination (PLET) structures for the tie-back of the wells.
Technip won the subsea flowline installation contract, using the deepwater pipelay vessel Deep Blue to install the flowlines. Following first production in mid-2006, the two wells\' development will reach 40,000b/d and 75MMcfd in 2007.
During 3rd quarter of 2014 the A-4 well was completed and flow tested to more than 4,000 BOPD.
Operators:
Kerr-McGee: Operator with 100% interest in Constitution and 50% interest in Ticonderoga
Noble Energy: 50% interest in Ticonderoga
Contractors:
Blake International Rigs: Supply a drilling unit
Technip: Subsea flowline installation