Chevron moving Big Foot TLP off location

Chevron Corp. will delay the start of production at deepwater Big Foot oil field in the Walker Ridge area of the Gulf of Mexico because of damage to subsea installation tendons installed for connection to the field’s tension-leg platform.

The company will move the 15-slot, drilling and production TLP to sheltered waters. The unit was neither damaged nor connected to any subsea wells or tendons when the several tendons lost buoyancy. There were no injuries or fluid releases.

Chevron said production will not start late this year, as planned.

The Big Foot TLP, which is in 5,200 ft of water 225 miles south of New Orleans, has design capacity of 75,000 b/d of oil and 25 MMcfd of natural gas (OGJ Online, Dec. 16, 2010).