Project Profile
Location: 150 miles (241 kilometres) southeast of New Orleans in Gulf of Mexico
Water Depth: 1,850 m / 6,105 ft
Start-up Year: 8th July 2009
The Thunder Hawk field, located on the Gulf of Mexico's Mississippi Canyon Block 734, is situated 150 miles (241 kilometres) southeast of New Orleans. The field is located in ultra-deepwater at a depth of 5,724 feet (1,745 metres).
Discovered on October 27, 2006, well No. 1 ST1 was drilled by the Transocean Marianas semisub, which encountered 300 feet (91 metres) of net oil pay in two high-quality reservoir zones. A second well was drilled in 5,716 feet (1,742 metres) of water, and encountered more than 500 feet (152 metres) of net pay in two high-quality sands, verifying the previous discovery. Shortly after the discoveries, the field was deemed commercially viable for field development with estimated recoverable reserves of 50 to 80 MMboe.
Field Development
The Thunder Hawk FPU, a stand-alone semisubmersible production facility, developed the field. Owned by SBM Atlantia, the FPU is capable of producing up to 60,000 bopd and 70 MMcf/d (1.9 MMcm/d). Additionally, the unit has the capacity for expansion to accommodate additional production from satellite discoveries or subsea tie-backs.
Aker Solutions installed the Thunder Hawk facility on Mississippi Canyon Block 736, in a water depth of 6,070 feet (1,850 metres). The FPU measures 213 feet (65 metres) tall, 230 feet (70 metres) long and 230 feet (70 metres) wide. Moored at 6,070 feet (1,850 metres), the Thunder Hawk FPU set a world record for its water depth. Delmar Systems moored the facility using the rig's self-contained mooring system of chain/wires and 7,000 feet (2,134 metres) of insert wire connected to the rig's high-holding power conventional anchor. Due to the ultra-deep depth, Delmar also installed submersible buoys on each line to optimize the rig's chain and insert wire-mooring system. Intec Engineering won the contract for the design of the flowlines and pipelines, and the company will also execute the design work for two 8 inch-diameter insulated flowlines to transport the production fluid from the subsea development to the FPU. Facility installation occurred in late 2008, and production commenced on Thunder Hawk on July 8, 2009.
Operator:
Fieldwood Energy: Operator
Murphy Oil: 37.5% working interest
StatoilHydro: 25% interest
Eni: 25% interest
Marubeni Oil & Gas: 12.5% interest
Contractors:
Aker Solutions: Installed the Thunder Hawk FPU facility
Delmar Systems: Moored the FPU facility using the rig's self-contained mooring system
Intec Engineering: Design of the flowlines and pipelines
SBM Offshore: Provide the FPU facility
Transocean: Drilling contractor using Transocean Marianas semisub
Noble Energy: Took over operatorship of the SBM Offshore-owned Thunder Hawk production platform. (August, 2016)