Shell’s largest tension leg platform began its trek from the Kiewett Offshore Services yard in Ingleside, Texas to Shell’s Mars field in the Gulf of Mexico over the weekend of July 13, 2013.
The Olympus, a 120,000-ton, 406 ft-high platform is being transported by tugboats, and projected to arrive to complete its pre-production travels within ten days.
The platform will be anchored in about 3,000 ft of water, about one mile from the existing Mars platform, and 130 miles south of New Orleans. Olympus will house 192 workers, providing infrastructure for two of Shell’s deepwater discoveries, West Boreas and South Deimos, including pipelines that will run through West Delta 143C—a recently installed shallow-water platform.
“We initially developed the field using the Mars A 24 well tension leg platform,” said Shell in a statement. “Given the field’s sizeable resources, we assessed the need for additional infrastructure to boost the continued development of the field.”
Production from Olympus is expected to begin in 2014, with a maximum production rate of 100,000 boe/d.
Shell is the operator of Mars field with 71.5% stake. Its partner BP holds the remaining 28.5%.
Image: Royal Dutch Shell
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