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Mad Dog up and running BP development in deepwater Gulf of Mexico expected to produce up to 100,000 barrels of oil, 60 million cubic feet of natural gas per day Ray Tyson Petroleum News Houston Correspondent
Oil and gas production has been launched from Mad Dog, one of several BP discoveries on the Gulf of Mexico’s prolific Atwater Fold Belt trend.
Located in roughly 4,500 feet of water on Green Canyon block 826, Mad Dog production began on Jan. 13 and will increase over the next year as additional wells are completed and brought online, BP said Jan. 18.
The facility, 200 miles south of New Orleans, La., is designed to process about 100,000 barrels of oil and 60 million cubic feet of gas per day.
“Bringing this challenging field into operation on-time is a significant achievement, made possible through excellent teamwork and partnership,” said David Eyton, vice president of BP’s Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Business Unit.
The Mad Dog development consists of a truss spar, equipped with facilities for simultaneous production and drilling operations, BP said. Oil from Mad Dog is being transported via the Caesar pipeline to Ship Shoal block 332B, where it connects with the Cameron Highway Oil Pipeline System.
Mad Dog gas is being exported via the Cleopatra pipeline to Ship Shoal block 332A, where it connects with the Manta Ray Gathering System, and from there to the Nautilus Gas Transportation System into Louisiana.
Both Caesar and Cleopatra pipelines are part of the BP-operated Mardi Gras Transportation System. Field discovered in 1998 Mad Dog was discovered in 1998. Construction of the spar components and topsides began during 2001 in Pori, Finland, and Morgan City, La.
BP is the Operator of Mad Dog with a 60.5 percent working interest. Australia’s BHP Billiton owns a 23.9 percent working interest and Unocal owns a 15.6 percent working interest.
Mad Dog is one of three major BP-operated Gulf of Mexico deepwater developments scheduled for start-up this year and next. In addition to Mad Dog, Thunder Horse is scheduled for start-up later this year, followed by Atlantis in 2006. A fourth BP project, Holstein, began production last month.
Holstein, Mad Dog and Atlantis are located on the Atwater Fold Belt, while Thunder Horse is located well east of the trend in Mississippi Canyon.
BP currently produces more than 300,000 net barrels of oil equivalent per day in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, with daily production expected to increase to more than 500,000 barrels of equivalent by 2007.
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