bp PLC started production at its Argos semi-submersible floating production platform in 4,500 ft of water about 190 miles south of New Orleans in deepwater US Gulf of Mexico. The platform has a gross production capacity of up to 140,000 b/d of oil and production is expected to ramp up through 2023.
Argos is bp’s fifth platform in the Gulf of Mexico and is the centerpiece of bp’s Mad Dog Phase 2 project. It is one of nine major projects that bp plans to start up by end-2025 globally and is the first new bp-operated production platform in the region since Thunder Horse began production in 2008 (OGJ Online, Dec. 22, 2008). The platform will increase bp’s gross operated production capacity in the Gulf of Mexico by an estimated 20%.
Argos includes an enhanced oil recovery system of more than 140,000 b/d water injection and a dynamic digital twin which links data from Argos to 3D digital models. The platform will operate through a subsea production system from 14 production wells.
bp discovered Mad Dog oil field in 1998 and began production with its first platform in 2005. Continued appraisal drilling in the field in 2009 and 2011 doubled the resource estimate of the field to more than 4 billion boe, requiring another platform at the field.
bp is operator at Mad Dog (60.5%) with partners Woodside Energy (23.9%) and Union Oil Co. of California, an affiliate of Chevron USA Inc. (15.6%).
