Thunder Horse - BP's Big Gulf Project - Delayed Another 6 Months To End Of 2008 - Rigzone

[hatrack]

BP PLC's (BP) Thunder Horse oil and gas project is due to start up by the end of 2008, the company's designate chief executive Tony Hayward said Tuesday. BP had previously said the project wouldn't start before mid-2008.

The start of production at the company's Thunder Horse field in the Gulf of Mexico was postponed from 2005 to 2008, after the offshore platform was damaged due to a technical fault as a hurricane approached.

Thunder Horse - which will produce hydrocarbons from a depth of 6,000 feet - is designed to process 250,000 barrels of oil and 200 million cubic feet of gas per day, BP said. Hayward made the comments at a press conference following the announcement of BP's fourth-quarter earnings. He will replace current BP Chief Executive John Browne as CEO in August.

EDIT

About Thunder Horse, Hayward said "it will happen." The project is now three years behind the original schedule. Thunder Horse is "something that hasn't been done before...We probably pushed the technology envelope a little bit too far," he added.

EDIT

http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=40911

[GliderGuider]

1. Two thoughts

First, this is why Jack II didn't exactly knock my socks off. This is bleeding-edge stuff, delays and cost overruns are going to be common, and GOM deep water developments are obviously vulnerable to increasing hurricane intensities.

Second, this is very bad news in light of the decline of Cantarell. Cantarell may be down 70% or more before TH comes on line. The US is going to start falling behind on imports unless they can beat the tar out of Canada...

[phantom power]

2. And at the end of the day, none of it is on the same scale as a Cantarell.

Hmmm. More effort, more cost, less oil. Somebody coined a phrase for that. It's on the tip of my tongue....

[hatrack]

3. Jack II - or, as described at ASPO, "The Brave Little 6,000kb/d Test Well That Saved The World!"

:eyes:

The metallurgy issues are also troubling.

[Javaman]

4. I know, I'm certainly no geologist or metallurgist, but

from what I read, it appears that things need to be "invented" in order for Jack II to actually pump any oil. I read someplace that the temperature at that depth of drilling is somewhere in the 275 degree range. Plus the whole thing of drilling down so deep.