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Storm not cause of Thunder Horse damage MMS says Hurricane Dennis likely not cause of listing platform Ray Tyson Petroleum News Houston Correspondent
The U.S. Minerals Management Service says Hurricane Dennis may not have been the root cause of damage to the BP-operated Thunder Horse semi-submersible platform, which was found listing badly after Dennis swept through the eastern Gulf of Mexico in early July.
In fact, preliminary reports indicate that overall damage caused by Dennis “was extremely light” on most offshore facilities in the U.S. Gulf, Chris Oynes, MMS regional director for U.S. Gulf, said July 13.
“This was much lighter than Hurricane Ivan was last year,” he said, noting that Dennis’ eye passed through the Gulf about 120 miles east of Ivan’s and was in the deeper sections of the Gulf.
“Thus, the impact to platforms and rigs was minimal,” Oynes said. “The path of the hurricane carried it mostly over open water with no oil and gas operations.” ‘No link’ between storm and damage MMS said “no link” had yet been established “between the hurricane and the damage to the Thunder Horse facility.”
The $1 billion Thunder Horse platform, not yet producing from the largest-ever oil discovery in the U.S. Gulf, was found listing 20 to 30 degrees to port after Dennis passed. An investigation was immediately launched, involving BP and Thunder Horse partner ExxonMobil, as well as MMS, the Coast Guard and other federal agencies.
“The Coast Guard is working closely with BP and its partners in maintaining the Thunder Horse platform’s stability and its recovery,” said Capt. Terry Gilbreath, the Coast Guard’s federal on-scene coordinator for the operation.
The platform and its production topsides are on Mississippi Canyon Block 778, about 150 miles southeast of New Orleans, La. The platform, supported by four giant pontoons, is anchored in 6,050 feet of water and will produce from some of the deepest wells in the world.
Thunder Horse is owned 75 percent by BP and 25 percent by ExxonMobil. Prior to the hurricane, the 1 billion barrel field was scheduled to come on stream sometime this year producing at peak daily rates of 250,000 barrels of oil and 200 million cubic feet of natural gas.
Thunder Horse, along with other offshore platforms in the U.S. Gulf, was evacuated ahead of Dennis, a Category 4 hurricane that whipped up winds in excess of 130 miles per hour. BP: pumps removing water BP said boarding teams have since established a power source on the Thunder Horse platform and that pumps were removing water in an effort to right the vessel. Evidently, one or more of the platform’s pontoons filled with water, causing the platform to list.
“Teams on shore are now analyzing information from data recorders recovered … in an effort to determine the cause of the listing,” BP said.
The cumulative shut-in oil production in the U.S. Gulf due to Dennis, from July 8 to July 14, amounted to 5.2 million barrels, less than 1 percent of annual production of 547.5 million barrels, MMS said.
The cumulative shut-in gas production during the same was 23.02 billion cubic feet, which also is less than 1 percent of the Gulf’s yearly production of 3.65 trillion cubic feet, the agency said.
Meanwhile, both industry and government regulators were keeping a close watch on Hurricane Emily, which was forecast to hit Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula on July 17 or July 18, and then emerge into the far southern Gulf. Platform evacuations likely would be ordered once again should Emily pass through either the western or central Gulf.
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