Virgo platform.
Instead of a floating production system, Elf Exploration Inc. selected a fixed platform for developing its deepwater Virgo discovery in Viosca Knoll Block 823 in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM).
The platform will be installed in 1,130 ft of water. Elf expects first production during the summer of 1999.
Elf awarded Enercon Engineering Inc. the procurement assistance and detailed design contract for the four-leg, 12-skirt pile platform. The platform is being designed to handle 200 MMscfd of gas, 9,000 bo/d, 6,000 b/d of condensate, and 7,500 bw/d.
The topsides design includes a three-level, six-leg deck with legs that transition from 54 to 60-in. diameter. The estimated lift/installation weight is 4,400 tons. The platform can accommodate a 25,000 ft API self-contained drilling rig.
The legs of the 24,000-ton jacket are designed to transition from 60 to 120-in. diameter. The jacket design has 14 conductor slots and allows the two existing wells to be tied back.
The 2 Viosca Knoll 823 discovery well encountered 376 ft of net hydrocarbon-bearing sands (OGJ, Sept. 1, 1997, p. 23). An extended drill stem test of a selected lower zone flowed on test 22.7 MMcfd of gas and 1,816 b/d of oil through a 38/64-in. choke with 3,826 psi flowing tubing pressure. Production is from a Miocene multireservoir structural/stratigraphic trap.
According to Enercon, the platform's water depth will be the fourth deepest in the world for a fixed platform.
Elf has a 64% working interest in the project. Coastal Oil & Gas Corp. 16.2%, Pogo Producing Co. 10.8%, and Nippon Oil Exploration U.S.A. LTD. 9% hold the remaining working interest.
Copyright 1998 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.
