The Pompano subsea project is a ten well development Iocated in 1865 ft. of water in the Gulf of Mexico. Flow is commingled subsea on a template/manifold and flowed 4.5 miles through dual piggable 8" flowlines to an existing BPX platform, bated in 1290 ft. water. Control is electro/hydraulic, with chemical injection facilities also provided. Primary intervention for paraffin scrapping and reservoir pressure monitoring is TFL (Through FLowline).
This project represents a major milestone in the development of the deepwater oil reserves of the Gulf of Mexico, by being the for remote folded tie-back of an oil producing reservoir. To successfully a project of this nature, it has been necessary to integrate the many engineering disciplines and types of contractors and to exploit the capabilities of the Operator and Contractors in a behavior and business environment which supports team work and innovation.
BP Exploration and its partner Kerr-McGee are proceeding with the subsea portion of the Pompano development (Figure 1). This development is located in the Mississippi Canyon (MC) area of the Gulf of Mexico, approximately 135 miles southeast of New Orleans.
Financial approval for the subsea development was given in June 1994, with installation of the template and flowlines in August/September 1995. Drilling started in October 1995 and will continue into 1997. First oil will b achieved in 1st Quarter 1996.
A project of this complexity, representing the first manifolded tie-back of oil production in the Gulf of Mexico, required innovative thinking on bath the technology to applied and on the organizational and behavioral approach to be adopted by the Operator and Contractors. This paper provides an overview of the development, details the project execution philosophy and the procurement strategy that was used to integrate the capabilities of the Project team, and relates the experiences of the key Contractors.
The Pompano subsea development consists of subsea completed production wells, a production template/manifold and associated control system, a flowline/utility line system, and modifications to the existing Pompano platform. There are plans for future water injection if required. Well servicing is by TFL.
The production template supports the subsea Xmas treesand manifold. Ftow is choked on the Xmas trees into either of the manifold production headers. Valving on the trees also allows flow to the well test lines. Diverters on the manifold direct TFL tools to an individual welt for wax scrapping and other TFL activities. A pigging module on the template connects the two oil production flowlines and the two TFL flowlines. The design allows for removal of the pigging module and the future connection of an additional production template in a daisy chain fashion. Figure 2 is the P&ID of the subsea production manifold.
