Falcon satellites Tomahawk, Raptor begin producing in deepwater Gulf

Ray Tyson

Petroleum News Houston correspondent

Dallas-based independent Pioneer Natural Resources said its Tomahawk and Raptor satellite fields, subsea tiebacks to the company’s Falcon complex in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, came on-stream June 16.

Pioneer holds a 100 percent working interest and operates four fields in the so-called Falcon Corridor, which currently produce about 350 million cubic feet of natural gas and 1,000 barrels of condensate per day.

Tomahawk, on East Breaks block 623, and Raptor, on East Breaks block 668, are 1.4 miles and 5.5 miles, respectively, from the Falcon subsea manifold in water depths ranging from 3,600 to 3,700 feet. The wells produce into a dual flowline system connecting the Falcon manifold to the Falcon Nest processing platform 32 miles to the north on the Gulf of Mexico shelf. Falcon Nest is owned and operated by GulfTerra Energy Partners.

With Tomahawk and Raptor, Pioneer established a new record for deepwater Gulf of Mexico operations completing development of the fields in 10 months.

The Falcon field began production in March 2003.

The Harrier field began production in February 2004.

“We expect similar results with Tomahawk and Raptor and look forward to testing additional prospects with subsea tie-back potential in our exploration program planned for the second half of this year,” said Scott Sheffield, Pioneer’s chief executive officer.