Thunder Horse (oil platform)

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Thunder Horse in the Gulf of Mexico on July 12, 2005, listing heavily after the passage of Hurricane Dennis.
Thunder Horse in the Gulf of Mexico on July 12, 2005, listing heavily after the passage of Hurricane Dennis.

Thunder Horse is the largest moored semi-submersible oil platform in the world, located in 1,920 metres (6,300 ft) of water in the Mississippi Canyon Block 778/822, Thunder Horse oilfield, about 150 s (241 km) southeast of New Orleans, Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico.

Construction costs were around one billion USD.[1] The facility is expected to operate for 25 years, producing about one billion barrels of oil. At its peak, it is expected to process 200 million cubic feet (5,700,000 m³) of natural gas and 250,000 barrels (40,000 m³) of oil per day.[2] The Thunder Horse platform is owned by BP (75%) and ExxonMobil (25%) and operated by BP.

The Hull section was constructed by DSME in South Korea, Thunder Horse was delivered in 2004 to Corpus Christi, Texas aboard MV Blue Marlin for completion.[3]

In July 2005, Thunder Horse was evacuated in the face of Hurricane Dennis. After the hurricane passed, the platform was listing badly. Inspection teams found no hull damage — Thunder Horse had not taken on water from a leak through its hull. Rather, an incorrectly plumbed, 6-inch length of pipe had allowed water to flow freely among several ballast tanks. That began a chain of events that caused the platform to tip into the water.[4] The event boosted world oil prices because of speculation of further oil shortages. The platform was fully righted about a week after Hurricane Dennis, but BP announced that commercial production had been delayed. [5] The platform was struck almost directly by Hurricane Katrina six weeks later, but was not damaged.

[edit] Current Status

According to BP's webpage regarding the Thunder Horse platform, the first oil has been rescheduled to the second half of 2008.[6] The cause of the delay is the need to repair and replace components in the subsea system following a failure during pre-commissioning checks.


[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Billion-dollar oil platform listing after Dennis' hit. Sun-Sentinel.com (July 13, 2005). Retrieved on 2006-03-28.
  2. ^ Offshore Technology - Thunder Horse Field, Gulf of Mexico.
  3. ^ Dockwise Delivers Thunder Horse PDQ to Corpus Christi. Rigzone (September 24, 2004). Retrieved on 2006-03-28.
  4. ^ Troubles Run Deep on Gulf Oil Platform - Science - RedOrbit
  5. ^ BP CEO: Thunder Horse 2005 Start 'Unlikely' (July 26, 2005). Retrieved on 2006-03-28.
  6. ^ BP oil production declines for sixth consecutive quarter - International Herald Tribune