BP has commenced a water injection project at its Thunder Horse platform in the Gulf of Mexico that will extend the production life of one of its biggest fields in the area, and recover an additional 65 MMboe.
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Thunder Horse, from BP. |
BP expects this project to boost recovery of oil and natural gas from one of the Thunder Horse field’s three main reservoirs.
“Over the past three years, BP refurbished the platform’s existing topsides and subsea equipment while also drilling two water-injection wells at the site. From those wells, water will be injected into the reservoir to increase pressure and enhance production. The improvements are expected to allow the Thunder Horse facility to recover an additional 65 MMboe over time,” the company said.
BP introduced its LoSal EOR solution in 2012, first deploying it at the giant greenfield Clair Ridge project off West of Shetland, UK. The operation was the first sanctioned large-scale offshore EOR scheme using reduced salinity water injection.
The Thunder Horse platform is located about 150mi southeast of New Orleans, in the Mississippi Canyon at 6050ft water depth. It began production in June 2008, with the capacity to handle 250,000 bbl and 200 MMcf/d of natural gas. The facility continued to operate while work on the water injection project was underway.
“This project will help BP sustain high levels of oil production in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico for years to come,” said Richard Morrison, regional president of BP’s Gulf of Mexico business. “And it’s another example of BP taking advantage of targeted and cost-effective opportunities within our existing portfolio.”
Thunder Horse is the second of five major upstream projects BP expects to bring online in 2016, and is part of the company’s plan to add some 800,000 boe/d of new production globally from projects starting up between 2015 and 2020.
The Thunder Horse South Expansion project will add a new subsea drill center roughly 2mi from the Thunder Horse platform.
In the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, BP operates four large production platforms: Thunder Horse, Atlantis, Mad Dog and Na Kika – and holds interests in four non-operated hubs – Mars, Mars B, Ursa and Great White.
Aside from Thunder Horse, the supermajor has another major project underway in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico – Mad Dog.
BP continues to design the Mad Dog Phase 2 project, which will develop resources in the central area of the Mad Dog field through a subsea development tied back to a new floating production hub consisting of up to 24 wells from four drill centers.
BP operates Thunder Horse with 75% stake. Partner Exxon Mobil holds the remaining 25%.
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OE has covered BP's designer water LoSal EOR solution, which won a Distinguished Achievement award at OTC in 2014.
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