By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Feb. 24 -- The US Minerals Management Service (MMS) reported that despite the general downturn in drilling, 2002 was a year of significant deepwater activity in the Gulf of Mexico.
Chris Oynes, MMS regional director, said 12 new deepwater discoveries were made and three of these were in water 8,000 ft or deeper. Meanwhile, 14 deepwater projects began production in 2002. These joined the 51 already in production, for a total of 65.
"Deepwater development projects continue at a fast pace, and the 14 new projects in the Gulf of Mexico include 11 that were subsea production systems that tied back to another project," Oynes said.
That raised the number of subsea projects to 41 out of the 65 total deepwater projects. Three of the deepwater starts utilized a spar as a production system.
"We expect a significant rise in the number of deepwater projects that will start production in the year 2003—perhaps as many as 19," Oynes said.
