BP Projecting Late 2008 Startup For Long-Delayed Thunder Horse In GOM - Rigzone

[hatrack]

Oil giant BP PLC is expecting the long-delayed 250,000-barrel-per-day Thunder Horse project in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico to come on stream at the end of 2008, a BP spokesman said.

Repairs at the US $1 billion platform are ongoing, he told Thomson Financial News.

"Thunder Horse will come on stream at the end of next year, three years behind schedule," he added.

Thunder Horse tilted after Hurricane Dennis struck the US Gulf in 2005. BP found leaks in certain parts of the rig while it carried out repairs, forcing it to re-set the start-up to late-2006 or early 2007, a year behind the original schedule. BP discovered more structural weakness in the months that followed, pushing the start-up date further as repairs took longer than planned. BP is the operator and the owner of a 75% stake in the field, the largest in the US Gulf with estimated reserves of around 1.5 bln barrels, while US oil giant ExxonMobil Corp holds the remaining 25%.

EDIT

http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=51871

[phantom power]

1. Oooo. 250 kbd. Feel the thunder!

:eyes:

[GliderGuider]

2. Every time the Red Queen misses a step she falls further behind

250K is diddly-squat, but there are a number of other projects that are seeing delays as well. With the declines that are setting in now, any lost ground will never be recovered.

[hatrack]

3. After Katrina, they discovered some exciting new properties of deepwater oil . . .

For starters, it's really hot - as in hundreds of degrees F. Bad news for casings & fittings.

Then there's the fact that it's highly acidic with fairly high sulfur content. Even worse news for casings, drill bits and other big hunks of metal that help get the oil out of the ground.

Oops.