[LadyRuby]

Thunder Horse delayed to 2007: See video half way down

A few quotes from video:
..There's a lot of oil left...
...Given the complexity of the environment its worth waiting to see what happens here.

Huge cost increases in E&P sector. Drilling rigs, engineers, contractors, in short supply. We can see exploration budget gone up due to inflation. We should expect further capital cost inflation over the next years (so in other words exploration cost increases just due to inflation).

We have plenty of opportunities for today and tomorrow.
...I think it's right to support the privitization of russian state companies. ... We have a very deep relationship with Rosneft....
...the tnk bp opertaion is very stable, we continue to add significant reserves...
... China doesn't hve a very strong upstream set of opportunities, so our activities have much more to do with petrochemicals...

he's said he's leaving in 2008... even if asked to stay beyond 2008, he would decline....time for a fresh pair of eyes (i.e., he wants to get out before TSHTF).
... the world of oil is in a significant period of change...(re: high oil prices) we have to figure out what this all means (I know). Says it has to do with peoples anxieties...Iran, Iraq, etc.

[frankthetank]

Blunderhorse better get lucky again this hurricane season....

[nth]

It looks like even with best technology, we are no match for hurricane 4s and 5's. GoM can never be a reliable producer. It is worse than Middle East especially Iraq.

[seahorse]

I looked for the video but didn't see it. I saw one on Pickens, but not one on Thunderhorse.

[LadyRuby]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('seahorse', 'I') looked for the video but didn't see it. I saw one on Pickens, but not one on Thunderhorse.

[Leanan]

Fortune has this article, about BP: Beyond Prudhoe: Why BP should go back to being an oil company

It's about all the things that BP has done wrong, despite trying to pose as a "green" oil company. But what struck me was this bit:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he Thunder Horse platform, damaged in last year's hurricanes, will not be reopened until 2007 at the earliest, much later than originally forecast.

[Zardoz]

Lest we forget how close they came to losing it completely:



It could easily have ended up on the bottom.

[DantesPeak]

I think the news on the Thunder Horse delay came out about August 8, due to recently found leaks that could not be fixed soon.
BP appears to be relying on structures they may not have stand up to Nature as well as they thought/hoped:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'S')unday Times (UK) August 13, 2006
The numerous problems have been compounded by costly delays to BP's Thunder Horse platform in the Gulf of Mexico, which was left listing badly after Hurricane Dennis last year. Production from Thunder Horse is not likely to resume until early next year, more than 12 months later than scheduled, while the $250m repair bill resulting from the platform's near sinking is set to rise after the discovery of leaks.

He said recently of BP's troubles in America: "I'm not going to say it was a string of bad luck. If we have to further enhance our safety value system, we will. Thunder Horse was about pushing the technology of floaty bits ... In Alaska we believed we had the right (pipeline corrosion) programme in place. Clearly we did not."

[Bleep]

Dante, please take a minute to search http://news.google.com for links. Just put some text from your article in double quotes and find the nice links:
link1 and link2 and link3
Thanks

[frankthetank]

Why pump it now @ $75 when they can pump it @ $100 later???...

Its either that or they are having a string of horrible luck. I thought Blunderhorse was a goner last hurricane season....

[DantesPeak]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Bleep', 'D')ante, please take a minute to search http://news.google.com for links. Just put some text from your article in double quotes and find the nice links: link1 and link2 and link3
Thanks

[Revi]

With both thunderhorse and the north slope down for the count we must be way down in domestic production. How much are we off now? Are we importing more to make up for it?

[DantesPeak]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Revi', 'W')ith both thunderhorse and the north slope down for the count we must be way down in domestic production. How much are we off now? Are we importing more to make up for it?

[No-Oil]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Zardoz', 'L')est we forget how close they came to losing it completely: It could easily have ended up on the bottom.

[Leanan]

BP Says Thunder Horse Platform Delayed Until Mid-2008
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', ' ')BP Plc, Europe's second-largest oil company, said its Thunder Horse production platform in the Gulf of Mexico won't start until at least the middle of 2008, more than two years behind schedule, because of repair delays. Tests over four months ``revealed metallurgical failure in components of the subsea system,'' which will now be retrieved and rebuilt, London-based BP said in a statement today.

The start-up delay at Thunder Horse is the second in two months, and comes after a series of disasters at the company's U.S. operations, including a 2005 Texas refinery explosion, oil spills in Alaska, and investigations into market manipulation in propane and oil trading. The platform, designed to process 250,000 barrels of oil a day and 200 million standard cubic feet of gas per day, was damaged by Hurricane Dennis in July 2005, leaving it listing at a 20-degree angle. It still hasn't started production.

On July 25, BP said Thunder Horse and another platform, Atlantis, wouldn't start until early 2007, after saying in April that Thunder Horse would start in the second-half of this year. Thunder Horse was originally supposed to start in late 2005 and Atlantis this year.

[joewp]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('BP Says Thunder Horse Platform Delayed Until Mid-2008', 'B')P Plc, Europe's second-largest oil company, said its Thunder Horse production platform in the Gulf of Mexico won't start until at least the middle of 2008, more than two years behind schedule, because of repair delays. Tests over four months "revealed metallurgical failure in components of the subsea system,'' which will now be retrieved and rebuilt, London-based BP said in a statement today.

The start-up delay at Thunder Horse is the second in two months, and comes after a series of disasters at the company's U.S. operations, including a 2005 Texas refinery explosion, oil spills in Alaska, and investigations into market manipulation in propane and oil trading. The platform, designed to process 250,000 barrels of oil a day and 200 million standard cubic feet of gas per day, was damaged by Hurricane Dennis in July 2005, leaving it listing at a 20-degree angle. It still hasn't started production.

[nth]

This makes me think either Shell is quite good or they were very lucky to get mars up and running so fast relative to thunderhorse.

[strider3700]

Or BP realizes that 250,000 barrels/day will be worth far more 3 years from now then tommorrow and in the long run it's best to take their time

[seahorse2]

Whatever the reason, the problems with Thunderhorse should temper the optimism about getting oil out of the ground in this "new" deepwater Gulf of Mexico find, 27k feet below.