Posted in Gulf of Mexico, hurricanes, Offshore Energy - General, tagged deepwater production, Gulf of America, Hurricane Isaias, oil production on October 8, 2026| Leave a Comment »
Per MMA, nearly 1.3 million barels/day of Gulf of America oil production was shut-in as of noon ET today. Given that ~95% of Gulf production is from deepwater facilities, the high shut-in volume and the storm track (map below) tell us that major deepwater platforms in the eastern areas of the Gulf are shut-in. It’s also apparent that operators are prudently shutting in platforms well outside the projected hurricane track.
Posted in energy policy, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged BP Argos, Chevron Anchor, deepwater production, Gulf of Mexico, Kaskida, Murphy King's Quay, Shell, Shenandoah, simpler safer greener, Sparta, Vito on January 20, 2025| Leave a Comment »
Shell’s Whale floating production unit began producing this month:
All 5 of the new simpler, safer, greener floating production units are now online:
| platform | operator | first production |
| King’s Quay | Murphy | April 2022 |
| Vito | Shell | Feb 2023 |
| Argos | bp | April 2023 |
| Anchor | Chevron | Aug 2024 |
| Whale | Shell | Jan 2025 |
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 in this post.)
Three major high-pressure projects, ala Chevron’s Anchor, are anticipated:
| platform | operator | discovery date | first production |
| Kaskida | bp | 2006 | 2029 |
| Sparta | Shell | 2012 | 2028 |
| Shenandoah | Beacon | 2009 | 2025 Q2 |
The Gulf still has high production potential if properly managed with consistent lease sales.
Will Florida budge by supporting the lifting of the EGOM leasing moratorium? Here is why they should.
Posted in energy policy, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged Anchor, Argos, Beacon Offshore, bp, Chevron, deepwater production, Gulf of Mexico production, high pressure production, Kaskida, King's Quay, Murphy, Paleogene, Shell, Shenandoah, Sparta, Vito, Whale on August 21, 2024| Leave a Comment »
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.
| platform | operator | first production |
| King’s Quay | Murphy | April 2022 |
| Vito | Shell | Feb 2023 |
| Argos | bp | April 2023 |
| Anchor | Chevron | Aug 2024 |
| Whale | Shell | late 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.
| platform | operator | discovery date | first production |
| Kaskida | bp | 2006 | 2029 |
| Sparta | Shell | 2012 | 2028 |
| Shenandoah | Beacon | 2009 | 2025 |
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.
Posted in Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged deepwater production, few surface facilities, high energy density, types of facilities on August 1, 2023| Leave a Comment »
In the Gulf of Mexico, deepwater leases produce large volumes of oil and gas from only a few surface facilities that are relatively distant from shore.
The Gulf of Mexico encompasses approximately 617,800 square miles and stretches 932 miles across from east to west. BOEM’s deepwater bathymetry grid of the northern Gulf of Mexico, created using 3D seismic data, covers more than 90,000 square miles (colored area in figure below). In this vast area, only 59 surface facilities produce ~1.7 million bopd and 2.2 bcfd.
The 59 deepwater facilities are comprised of:
Posted in Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged 5 year leasing plan, deepwater production, Gulf of Mexico production, King's Quay, LLOG, Murphy, Spruance on December 2, 2022| Leave a Comment »
The September total reflects production from recent deepwater startups, including King’s Quay (Murphy) and Spruance (LLOG). Other new deepwater facilities should further boost GoM oil production next year as forecasted by BOEM (table below). Unfortunately, the BOEM forecast considerably overstates 2022 production and appears to be optimistic for the outyears. This is a significant concern given that US offshore leasing policy, as reflected in the 5 Year Plan, is naively focused on throttling long-term production. See the rather startling quote below:
“BOEM’s short-term (20-year) production forecast for existing leases shows steady growth from 2022 through 2024 and declining thereafter (see Section 5.2.1). The long-term nature of OCS oil and gas development, such that production on a lease can continue for decades makes consideration of future climate pathways relevant to the Secretary’s determinations with respect to how the OCS leasing program best meets the Nation’s energy needs.“
5 Year Leasing Program, p.3
Posted in Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, Regulation, Uncategorized, tagged BSEE, deepwater production, DWOP, Mike Conner, MMS on November 16, 2022| Leave a Comment »
On Monday, the offshore world lost Mike Conner, an outstanding engineer and a major contributor to the success of the US offshore program.
Mike is the person most responsible for the Deepwater Operations Plan (DWOP), a pioneering safety-case approach to regulating deepwater oil and gas development. The DWOP program was initiated 30 years ago and facilitated deepwater production at a time when there were no deepwater-specific regulations or standards. Innovative tension leg platform, compliant tower, spar, production semisubmersible, and subsea projects would not have been possible without the DWOP program. 93% of Gulf of Mexico oil production and 76% of the gas is now attributable to deepwater production facilities. Thanks in large part to the DWOP program, these facilities have had a nearly flawless safety and environmental record.
While his obituary is no yet available, this link announces Mike’s well-deserved selection for the OTC Heritage Award in 2017, and provides good information on Mike and his career.
Posted in Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged deepwater production, floating production units, Gulf of Mexico, oil production on May 31, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Waiting for a boost from the deepwater startups. The first of that group, King’s Quay did not begin producing until April.
Posted in energy policy, Guyana, Offshore Energy - General, tagged deepwater production, FOGCO, Guyana, Marcellus, national oil company on May 25, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Guyana’s pending decision regarding the formation of a national oil company brings back memories of unsuccessful attempts to do the same in the US in the 1970s.
The most serious attempt at forming a national oil company in the US was a 1975 Senate bill to establish the Federal Oil and Gas Corporation or FOGCO. (Oddly, the bill’s sponsors weren’t troubled by that acronym.) FOGCO was proposed at a time when natural gas supplies didn’t satisfy demand, and that was the primary impetus behind the legislation. (Supply issues went away when price controls were lifted.)
Concerns about a FOGCO then and now:
Guyana is far different from the US and should do what is perceived to be in their best interest. Best wishes to the people of Guyana as they weight their options.
Posted in Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, tagged deepwater production, King's Quay, Murphy Oil, RIdgewood Energy on April 12, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Murphy has announced first oil from the King’s Quay floating production unit in the Gulf of Mexico. The initial production rate has not been released, but the facility is expected to process up to 80,000 BOPD and 100 million cu ft of gas per day from subsea wells.
Murphy’s six partners all appear to be investment companies. This type of support is essential given the reduced Gulf of Mexico participation by some of the major oil companies. Ridgewood Energy has the largest stake among the Murphy partners. In the “old days,” the partners were typically other exploration and production companies.
Posted in Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, rigs-to-reefs, tagged deepwater production, Gulf of Mexico, number of platforms, platform density, rigs-to-reefs on April 11, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Deepwater production is noteworthy for widely dispersed surface structures supplemented with subsea systems. In the past 30 years, the total number of Gulf of Mexico platforms declined by 50% while the oil production doubled. Of course, this level of production is not sustainable without regular lease sales and increased exploration. In that regard, the signs are not good.
435 GoM shelf platforms have been removed in just the last 5 years (2017-2021). The loss of platforms is accompanied by a loss of marine habitat that the rigs-to-reefs program has partially compensated for. There have been a number of other interesting proposals for the use of old platforms, some more serious than others.
Current number of Gulf of Mexico platforms by water depth:
| water depth | floating and fixed production platforms |
| all depths | 1757 |
| >400 m | 52 |
| >1000 m | 35 |
| >1500 m | 16 |
| >2000 m | 7 |
