On June 3, 2012, BP has declared that the Galapagos development in the deepwater U.S. Gulf of Mexico has commenced.
The company is looking forward to begin production at the Galapagos development by this year and this Galapagos is one among several new main upstream projects.
The Chief Executive of BP Group, Bob Dudley stated that the introduction of this Galapagos project in the Gulf of Mexico is one of the main operational milestones of the company for 2012. The company anticipates this project to become operational by this year and the project is one of six projects with a significantly high-margin.
Three deepwater fields are included in the development of Galapagos, which will also increase the potential of the company’s major offshore production hub. Subsea equipment on the Gulf’s floor is deployed in the fields, namely Santa Cruz, Santiago and Isabela, for production. Addition of a new production flowline loop carries the output to the adjacent Na Kika host plant. This facility is a BP-operated platform that is situated approximately 140 mi. towards the southeastern part of New Orleans in 6,500 ft of water.
The Na Kika plant has the potential to produce 130,000 barrels of oil equivalent in a day and has been specifically altered in such a way as to deal with the output from the three fields. The project is expected to be completely operational around this month end.
The overall interest of the company in the three-block region, which contains the fields including the Galapagos project, is approximately 56%. The co-owners of the project are Houston Energy, Noble Energy and Red Willow Offshore. The Isabela field is operated by BP, whereas the Santa Cruz and Santiago fields are operated by Noble Energy.
Installation of production risers, new subsea infrastructure and topsides was essential for the Galapagos development. The company may invest at least $4 billion per annum for the development of oil and gas in the Gulf of Mexico for the coming 10 years.
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