Anadarko starts Caesar/Tonga Green Canyon oil flow

An Anadarko Petroleum Corp. group has started oil production from its Caesar/Tonga development in the Green Canyon area of the deepwater Gulf of Mexico.

Output is expected to ramp up to 45,000 b/d of oil equivalent from the first three subsea wells, and a fourth well is to be drilled and completed later in 2012 as part of the planned first development phase. The resource base is estimated at 200-400 million boe.

The group is producing Caesar/Tonga through Anadarko’s 100% owned Constitution spar floating production facility. The development also included the gulf’s first application of steel lazy wave riser technology.

The Constitution spar, in 5,000 ft of water on Green Canyon Block 680, began production in 2006 with a capacity of 70,000 b/d of oil and 200 MMcfd of gas. Anadarko began modifying Constitution’s topsides in 2009 to accommodate production from Caesar/Tonga 10 miles to the east.

Al Walker, Anadarko president and chief operating officer, said, “Our ability to safely achieve cost savings of almost $1 billion by leveraging our existing, operated infrastructure in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico continues to demonstrate the value of our hub-and-spoke approach to exploration and development.”

Anadarko operates Caesar/Tonga with 33.75% working interest. Statoil Gulf of Mexico LLC has 23.55%, Shell Offshore Inc. 22.45%, and Chevron USA Inc. 20.25%.