By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Jan. 6 -- Joint venture partners in Princess field subsea wells drilled on Mississippi Canyon blocks 765 and 766 in the Gulf of Mexico reported Monday the start-up of oil and natural gas production on Dec. 17, 2003.
The field's wells, which lie in the Mars basin about 140 miles southeast of New Orleans in 3,650 ft of water, are producing 9,000 b/d of oil and 15 MMcfd of gas, the partners said.
Working interest owners of Princess are operator Shell Exploration & Production Co. 45%, BP PLC 23%, and ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil Corp., 16% each.
The coventurers plan a phased development for Princess with the initial phase including one well (A10) drilled in November 2002 from the Ursa tension leg platform, which lies less than 4 miles away, and an expandable three-well subsea system drilled in the field and also tied back to Ursa.
Peak production during Princess's initial development stage is estimated to be 55,000 b/d of oil and 110 MMcfd of gas.
The Princess project is estimated to yield a total gross ultimate recovery of 175 MMboe, the partners said.
