[Daculling]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Specop_007', 'W')hen I was.....13 or so, I was privileged to tour one of the largest oil refineries in this part of the world as I was told. At the time it was HOVIC, but later changed to....Oh hell, cant think of the name.

[TreeFarmer]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('skeptik', 'W')ho wants to be an engineer? Obviously not enough people with smarts over the past 20 years or so. They all wanted to be investment bankers and hedge fund managers in the City of London and Wall St. Maybe that will change a bit now that the financial services industry has gone *** up and commodities are in the ascendancy.

[frankthetank]

Sometimes i sing the "Blunderhorse" song...

"Blunder, blunder, blunder, blunder..horse" (to the tune of "Thundercats" )

[Specop_007]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Daculling', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Specop_007', 'W')hen I was.....13 or so, I was privileged to tour one of the largest oil refineries in this part of the world as I was told. At the time it was HOVIC, but later changed to....Oh hell, cant think of the name.

[ROCKMAN]

BLUNDERHORSE! I like that but that's just the 16 yo left in me.
BP management has been looked down upon by much of the oil patch in recent years. Refinery explosions in Houston, poor maintenance of the North Slope oil pipeline, etc.

Two problems with TH expectations. The ability of the facility to handle the projected thruput can't be determined until you're actually running it thru. Hopefully needed adjustments will be minor. But bigger issues maybe down the road after the field has been online for a while. As much as geology/engineering has advanced Mother Nature is still in control. About 10 years ago I saw an operator put two Deep Water GOM wells online. These oil wells turned into gas wells within a month and destroyed the project as the system couldn't handle gas. The cause of the problem wasn't unheard of but just wasn't anticipated. But even if all goes well the decline rate and ultimate recover is always difficult to project. As dramatic as initial flow rates can be the Deep Water GOM fields have very rapid decline rates. Many that went online in the last 10 years are down to 15% to 30% of the IP rates.

[copious.abundance]

--> LINKY <--
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')b]Thunder Horse now producing from two wells
Filed from Houston 10/29/2008 2:31:55 PM GMT

HOUSTON: BP Chief Financial Officer Byron Grote confirmed that the company's Thunder Horse field in the Gulf of Mexico is now producing from two wells at a rate of over 100,000 b/d. A third well is scheduled to come on line, likely in November, and fourth is expected before the end of the year.

Grote also commented that the wells, facilities and reservoir were all performing very well.

The Thunder Horse field is in Mississippi Canyon Blocks 778 and 882, 150 miles (241 km) southeast of New Orleans in the Gulf of Mexico. BP is the operator of Thunder Horse and owns a 75 percent interest in the field. ExxonMobil holds the remaining 25 percent. The Thunder Horse semisubmersible platform began operations in June, after being delayed by hurricane damage since 2005.

[TheDude]

Alright! Only took 3 1/2 years to fire the thing up again.

Only four wells? Original specs were for 6 times that:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'F')ield will be developed via semi-submersible Production / Drilling / Quarters facility, supported by a network of 25 wet-tree subsea wells.

[AirlinePilot]

Oilfinder,

What is with you fishing up all these old threads and trolling out your cornucopian fantasies? Really kind of poor form and I'd recommend you cease if you want any real credibility around here. The Dude makes some very salient points and I notice you usually fail to rebut him. I wonder why?

[ROCKMAN]

We should be nicer to OF2 pilot. While I don't share his unbridled optimism he is a constant in the universe. With our financial institution crumbling, mortgages burning down left and right, etc, etc, etc, OF2 will never change. Right or wrong he is a solid as a rock. These days I do find some comfort in such predictability. He does his job as he has defined it and follows through. We should wish our political leaders followed such protocol.

[Plantagenet]

Part of the peak oil story is the increasingly desperate search to find more oil fields. I think OF2 does a great job bringing this side of the story to this site.

[ROCKMAN]

And besides Plant, if we didn't have OF2 to tease we would start picking on each other. And I don't think many of has skin as thick as his.

[SteinarN]

I agree with rocman.

I also find OF" to be more optimistic than I do, but I think he makes reasonable post nevertheless. I think we need those people on this board also. He does regularly update a thread comparing this years 4-week average fuelconsumption in the US compared to last years 4-week average. An objective and informative thread.

[pup55]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'n')ow producing from two wells at a rate of over 100,000 b/d. A third well is scheduled to come on line, likely in November, and fourth is expected before the end of the year.

[AirlinePilot]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Shannymara', ' ')I don't agree with his perspective on things either, but at least this was relevant news.

[copious.abundance]

She's fully up and running now! *throws party*
--> LINKY <--
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')b]BP Thunder Horse Production Ramping Up

HOUSTON, Dec. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- BP today announced that it has successfully started production from the third and fourth wells at the Thunder Horse field with production now in excess of 200,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed), signalling the completion of commissioning and commencement of full operation. BP plans to start-up additional production from the Thunder Horse North field in the first half of 2009.

"The strong ramp-up of production from Thunder Horse is an important milestone as we continue to grow production from our strong portfolio of deepwater assets in the Gulf of Mexico," said Andy Inglis, BP's chief executive of Exploration and Production. "We have had to overcome significant challenges in developing and applying new technology to produce this ultra-deep, high-pressure, high-temperature field. The capability and technology we have developed will be critical for our next phase of offshore projects."

[...]

[ROCKMAN]

OF2 --this is all I could find:

In February 2001, a new field - Thunder Horse North - was drilled in Block 776, 5 miles northwest of Thunder Horse. The discovery encountered 581ft net of accumulated hydrocarbons in three intervals. It was drilled in 5,640ft of water by the Discoverer 534 and reached a total depth of 26,046ft.

Can't guess as to the areal extent but the oil column is comparable to the main field. Being 5 miles away it's a good bet that it's a seperate structural feature.

[copious.abundance]

^
Thanks. I guess I'll just keep my eyes peeled on the news for more info.

[copious.abundance]

>>> Rigzone <<<
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')b]BP Becomes Largest GOM Producer from Thunder Horse Output
by Angel Gonzalez Dow Jones Newswires Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Emerging from years of technical problems, BP PLC's Thunder Horse platform has significantly ramped up its oil and gas output -- making the company the largest producer in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

A document on BP America's Web site said that the deepwater platform was producing about 300,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day in March - up from the 200,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day the company reported in February.

[...]

[copious.abundance]

Looks like there's still 2 more wells they're gonna drill for this thing by the end of the year.

>>> OGJ <<<
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')b]BP ramps up Thunder Horse production
Uchenna Izundu
OGJ International Editor

LONDON, Apr. 17 -- BP America has ramped up production by more than 100,000 boe/d from its Thunder Horse platform in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico through new wells.

Last month, the $1 billion platform produced more than 300,000 boe/d from seven wells. In December, production was over 200,000 boe/d from the third and fourth wells, signaling completion of commissioning and full operation. Thunder Horse now accounts for 1 of every 6 bbl of oil produced in the US.

Another two wells are to be added later this year to Thunder Horse, the gulf's largest deepwater producing asset, which is 150 miles southeast of New Orleans. The additions are key to boosting BP's future production in the area.

Designed to process 250,000 b/d and 200 MMcfd of gas, Thunder Horse produced its first shipment of oil last June. Operations with the technologically innovative project had been delayed by years due to technical problems and hurricanes. The field was originally discovered in 1999 in a reservoir 3 miles beneath mud, rock, and salt with pressures of 13,000-18,000 psi and temperatures of 88-135° C.

The Thunder Horse semisubmersible platform is in 6,050 ft of water on Mississippi Canyon Blocks 778 and 822. It has a deck load capacity of 40,000 tonnes. Production-drilling-quarters (PDQ) functions enable drilling subsea wells from the platform and processing production from the wells. Subsea wells are connected to production manifolds on the seafloor and then to the PDQ via riser flowlines.

[...]

[AirlinePilot]

I'm sure no Hurricanes will ever get near that platform again either....