Uchenna Izundu
International Editor
LONDON, Apr. 13 -- Shell Offshore Inc. has selected Technip to install water injection flowlines and risers for deepwater Ursa and Princess oil fields. They lie in the Gulf of Mexico's Mars basin 140 miles southeast of New Orleans. The work is scheduled to start in the fourth quarter and will take a month to complete.
Separately, Shell has let a $30 million contract to Technip to tie back four subsea water injection wells to the Ursa platform, anchored on Mississippi Canyon Block 854 in 3,780 ft of water. Princess also lies in water deeper than 3,000 ft.
The contract covers project management, engineering, fabrication, and installation of flowlines and steel catenary risers, and installation of pipeline end terminations.
A Shell spokeswoman said the work will boost production and extend the life of the field. Peak production during Princess's initial development stage is pegged at 55,000 b/d of oil and 110 MMcfd of gas (OGJ Online, Jan.6, 2004). Shell estimates that the Princess project will yield the ultimate recovery of 175 million total gross boe.
Technip will assemble the pipe stalks at its spoolbase in Mobile, Ala. It will use the Deep Blue deepwater pipelay vessel, which can lay pipes at more than 1 km/hr.
The partners in Princess and Ursa are Shell, operator, with 45%, BP PLC 23%, ExxonMobil Corp. 16%, and ConocoPhillips 16%.
Contact Uchenna Izundu at [email protected].
