Shell Oil Co. reports that the Olympus tension leg platform reached the Mars B field on July 20th, following a 425-mi. tow from Ingleside, Texas. The location, in Mississippi Canyon Block 807, is about 130mi. south of New Orleans. The TLP was safely secured in place last week, moored to the seafloor by tendons running from each of the structure's corners. Water depth at the Mars field site is about 3,000 ft (914m).
Olympus is expected to start production in 2014, producing at a rate of 100,000 boe/d. The field is operated by Shell (71.5% WI) on behalf of partner BP (28.5%).
This is the second TLP at the Mars field, and the sixth of its type for Shell in the Gulf of Mexico. The body of the Olympus TLP was fabricated in South Korea, transported to south Texas on the MV Blue Marlin, and outfitted with topsides equipment at the Kiewit Offshore Services yard.
Olympus has a platform drilling rig (Noble Bully 1) and 24 well slots, and will initially process crude from tiebacks to six wells in the West Boreas and South Deimos subsea developments. Mars and Mars B cover eight blocks in Mississippi Canyon: 762, 763, 764, 805, 806, 807, 850 and 851.
Shell has requested that the US Coast Guard establish a 500m safety zone around the new TLP, "due to safety concerns for vessels operating in the area and the environment." On 18 July, the Coast Guard published the proposed rule, saying: "Placing a safety zone around the facility will significantly reduce the threat of allisions, oil spills, and releases of natural gas, and thereby protect the safety of life, property, and the environment."
The public comment period to the proposed rule closes on 19 August 2013: www.federalregister.gov/articles/2013/07/18/2013-17241/safety-zone-olympus-tension-leg-platform-mississippi-canyon-block-807-outer-continental-shelf-on-the
Photo shows Olympus TLP on site in the foreground, next to Shell's Mars platform.
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