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Posts Tagged ‘Argos’

“Back to the Future” for BP!

Posted in energy policy, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged , , , , on February 28, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Beyond Petroleum “Back to Petroleum”

BP has announced it will cut its renewable energy investments and instead focus on increasing oil and gas production.

The energy giant revealed the shift in strategy on Wednesday following pressure from some investors unhappy its profits and share price have been lower than its rivals.

BP said it would increase its investments in oil and gas by about 20% to $10bn (£7.9bn) a year, while decreasing previously planned funding for renewables by more than $5bn (£3.9bn).

The future looks like this: BP Argos floating production unit, Gulf of America – simpler, safer, greener

It’s more than okay to be an oil and gas producer – no need to apologize or pretend to be something else. Oil and gas are, and will continue to be, essential to economies worldwide. Companies should focus on safely and cleanly achieving production objectives.

If a company thinks other types of energy investments make good business sense, they should engage in those activities. However, they should not do so to curry favor with anti-oil factions who can never be placated. Attempts to do so will only weaken your company.

BP is doing well in the Gulf of America – no. 2 producer in 2024.

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The 5 new deepwater GoM platforms are now (or will soon be) producing. What’s next?

Posted in energy policy, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 21, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Shell Vito
Chevron Anchor
bp Argos
Murphy King’s Quay
Shell Whale

Four of the five simpler, safer, greener deepwater platforms featured on this blog are now producing. The 5th platform (Whale) is on location and scheduled to begin production later this year.

platformoperatorfirst production
King’s QuayMurphyApril 2022
VitoShellFeb 2023
ArgosbpApril 2023
AnchorChevronAug 2024
WhaleShelllate 2024

These platforms are in 4000 to 8600′ of water, are expected to reach peak production rates of 100-150,000 boe/day, and have favorable emissions characteristics on a per barrel basis.

This is all good, but what is next? Will technological advances once again sustain GoM production? The short answer appears to be yes!

The efficiencies achieved with the simpler platform designs combined with the high pressure (>15,000 psi) technology developed over the past 2 decades will facilitate production from the highly prospective Paleogene (Wilcox) deepwater fans. (For those interested in learning more about the geology, see the excellent presentation by Dr. Mike Sweet, Univ. of Texas, that is embedded below.)

Chevron’s Anchor is the first deepwater, high-pressure development. Three similar deepwater hub platforms (table below) will begin production over the next 5 years. These host platforms will also facilitate additional production from nearby fields. Each will have production capacities of approximately 100,000 boe/day. Note the long lead times in achieving first production given the technological issues that had to be evaluated and addressed.

platformoperatordiscovery datefirst production
Kaskidabp20062029
SpartaShell20122028
ShenandoahBeacon20092025

Wood Mackenzie sees these high pressure projects as the key to sustaining GoM production rates. Their projections for 2024 and 2025 seem optimistic based on 2024 YTD data, which adds to the importance of the projected new production.

Related: Movin’ on up to 20,000 psi BOP equipment

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GoM production: 2 million barrels per day in Sept!

Posted in energy policy, Gulf of Mexico, hurricanes, Offshore Energy - General, tagged , , , , , on November 30, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Per EIA, September Gulf of Mexico production averaged 2 million bopd on the button! New production from Vito and Argos were no doubt contributors, as production reached the 2 million bopd mark for only the third month in the history of the OCS program. The other 2 months were in 2019.

Imagine what US offshore production might be if the OCS oil and gas program was actually managed to succeed!

Also, as the official hurricane season comes to a close today, we are fortunate in that there have been no production shut-ins from tropical storms in 2023.

Vito

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June production bump continues through July

Posted in Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged , , , , , , on October 2, 2023| Leave a Comment »

This is presumably due to the new production at Vito and Argos. Will we see 2 million bopd again? Perhaps later this year or next, but production increases are unlikely beyond that given the current state of the offshore leasing program. You can’t efficiently develop and supplement new discoveries without consistent, predictable leasing.

Shell Vito under tow to the Mississippi Canyon area of the Gulf of Mexico.

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Deepwater GoM platforms: the next generation has arrived

Posted in Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged , , , , , , , , on April 19, 2023| Leave a Comment »

With the announcement of first oil at Argos, 3 of the 5 next generation deepwater platforms (simpler, safer, and greener) are now producing oil and gas in the Gulf of Mexico. The other 2 platforms are expected to begin production in 2024.

Prior to the installation of these platforms, the last deepwater platform addition was Shell’s Appomattox in 2018. That gap in deepwater platform installations was the longest since Bullwinkle was installed in 1988.

The 5 new structures will increase the deepwater platform count by 9% from 56 to 61, and in the next few years should account for approximately 1/4 of GoM oil production.

platformoperatorwater
depth
(feet)		first
production		design
production
(boe)
King’s QuayMurphy3725April 2022100,000
VitoShell4000Feb 2023100,000
Argosbp4500April 2023140,000
AnchorChevron50002024 (est.)80,000
WhaleShell86002024 (est.)100,000
Argos

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Simpler, safer, greener: Vito takes center stage!

Posted in Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on February 16, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Shell Vito

Last year, BOE featured 5 deepwater platforms that were under construction: Shell’s Vito and Whale, Murphy’s King’s Quay, bp’s Argos, and Chevron’s Anchor. These floating production units are noteworthy for their lighter, smaller designs. King’s Quay was the first to produce, beginning last April. The spotlight is now on Vito which began producing today. Vito’s peak production should reach 100,000 boe. The other 3 platforms are expected to begin production this year or next.

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Deepwater development trend: simpler, safer, greener

Posted in Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged , , , , , on March 25, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Shell Vit0
Chevron Anchor
BP’s Argos
Murphy’s King’s Quay

After a several year lag in deepwater Gulf of Mexico development, a new generation of projects is moving toward first production. Shell’s Vito and Whale, BP’s Argos, Chevron’s Anchor, and Murphy’s King’s Quay are similar in many ways including the following:

  • Floating production units
  • Lighter, smaller semisubmersible designs
  • Excellent structural integrity and storm performance characteristics
  • Lower project costs, shorter cycle times
  • 4000 to 8600′ water depth
  • Subsea wells, small surface footprint
  • High production rates anticipated: 100,000 – 150,000 BOE/D
  • Standardized equipment
  • Energy efficient gas turbines
  • Advanced remote monitoring, fewer onboard staff
  • Simpler = safer (assuming equivalent well and production safety system integrity)
  • Limited number of wells + high production rates/well + efficient power generation and processing equipment + restricted flaring + pipeline transportation = low GHG intensity production

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Good news for America!

Posted in energy policy, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on February 10, 2022| 4 Comments »

BSEE.gov
  1. Pictured above are BSEE inspectors from the famed Houma District conducting one of their (always) thorough pre-production inspections at Murphy’s King’s Quay semisubmersible production platform in the Gulf of Mexico. [Trivia question: Who was the first Houma District Supervisor?]
  2. King’s Quay is one of six deepwater platforms expected to begin production in the Gulf over the next several years. Others include Shell’s Vito and Whale, BP’s Argos, Chevron’s Anchor, and Beacon’s Shenadoah. All are semisubmersible platforms, the current design of choice for the deepwater Gulf. Production semis have become smaller and more efficient, greatly improving the economics of deepwater projects.
  3. These platforms feature efficient gas turbines and compression systems that should increase the GHG intensity advantage of deepwater Gulf production.
  4. These are the first deepwater production structures to be installed in the Gulf since Shell’s Appomattox in 2018. Per our previous post on this topic, current GoM production rates are not sustainable without regular, predictable lease sales and increased exploration.
King’s Quay under tow

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Argos platform arrives on location in the Gulf of Mexico

Posted in Offshore Energy - General, tagged , , , , on December 8, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Per Offshore-Energy.biz, BP’s semi-submersible Argos production platform has arrived on location in the Gulf of Mexico. The floating platform will operate in 4500′ of water as part of BP’s Mad Dog 2 project. Production, which is expected to reach 140,000 boe/d, should begin in the 2nd quarter of 2022.

Per BOEM’s platform data base, this will be the 58th surface production facility in the deepwater (>1000′) GoM and the first such facility installed since Shell’s Appomattox in June, 2018. These platforms account for more than 90% of US offshore oil production.

BP photo: Argos at Ingleside, TX
BP graphic

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