Three Platforms' Production Projected To Exceed Production For Most States

Originally ran on 12/24/2008

Mississippi Canyon (People Port)— In 2007, the four week refinery average was more than 15 million barrels of crude oil a day. All three platforms are in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Only large deposits with high flow rate wells are economic in deep water, and production rates from these platforms far exceed most other production facilities. The fewer than 30 wells planned for Thunder Horse are expected to produce more oil than the 18,000 oil wells in the State of Louisiana. By early 2010, the three platforms should reach their combined designed production capacity of 575 thousand barrels per day. The Minerals Management Service reports that the entire Federal Offshore Gulf of Mexico was producing about 1,300 thousand barrels per day before the 2008 Hurricanes Gustav and Ike.

EIA expects that the combined production for the Thunder Horse, Atlantis, and Tahiti platforms in 2010 will exceed production in 2007 for all but the top three producing States in the United States. Repeat this combined horsepower 20 more times and we would not need any imported oil.

Major Contributing Platforms

The Thunder Horse platform is in the Mississippi Canyon area about 150 miles southeast of New Orleans, Louisiana. It is a semi-submersible platform located in 6,050 feet of water with wells drilled to a depth of about 29,000 feet. (A semi-submersible platform is a floating platform moored on location using ballast tanks in the hull for vertical positioning.) The Thunder Horse platform began commissioning in late 2008 and produced 40 thousand barrels per day during August testing. Operators have scheduled the platform to start commercial production in December 2008 or January 2009, and the platform may reach its designed production capacity of 250 thousand barrels per day as early as the first part of 2010.

The Atlantis platform is in the Green Canyon area about 190 miles south of New Orleans. It is a semi-submersible located in 7,070 feet of water with wells drilled to a depth of about 18,700 feet. Operators expect to connect 18 wells to the platform, which began commercial production in October 2007. It was producing about 100 thousand barrels per day as of August 2008, prior to Hurricane Gustav. Operators may increase production to about 200 thousand barrels per day by the end of 2009.

The Tahiti platform is in the Green Canyon area about 190 miles south of New Orleans. It is a spar platform located in 4,250 feet of water with wells drilled to a depth of about 25,800 feet. (A spar platform is also a floating platform, in this case, supported by a single buoyant cylindrical hull composed of a buoyant upper hull and a bottom ballast tank.) Operators have planned 6 initial wells for this platform, with more to be drilled later. Operators have scheduled the Tahiti platform to begin commercial production in the first quarter of 2009 and the platform may reach its designed capacity of 125 thousand barrels per day in January 2010.

Copyrighted, 2008, J John Swanko, All rights reserved. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License