BP PLC has started up a water injection project at its Thunder Horse platform in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico to boost oil and gas recovery from one of the field’s three main reservoirs.
The firm over the past 3 years has refurbished the platform’s existing topsides and subsea equipment while also drilling two water-injection wells at the site. The improvements are expected to allow the facility to recover an additional 65 million boe over time.
The Thunder Horse platform, which sits in more than 6,000 ft of water and began production in June 2008 (OGJ Online, Dec. 22, 2008), has the capacity to handle 250,000 bbl of oil and 200 MMcfd of natural gas. The facility continued to operate while work on the water injection project was under way.
The project is the second of five major upstream projects BP expects to bring online in 2016. It is part of the firm’s plan to add 800,000 boe/d of new production globally from projects starting up during 2015-20.
In the deepwater gulf, the Thunder Horse South expansion project will add a subsea drill center roughly 2 miles from the Thunder Horse platform, and the Mad Dog Phase 2 project will develop resources in the central area of Mad Dog field through a subsea development tied back to a new floating production hub consisting of as many as 24 wells from four drill centers.
Thunder Horse is operated by BP with 75% working interest. ExxonMobil Corp. holds the remaining 25%.