TEXACO-UNOCAL SLATE GULF OF MEXICO PLATFORM
Texaco U.S.A. was scheduled last week to launch the jacket for its "Tick" oil and gas platform in the Gulf of Mexico.
Texaco and Unocal Exploration Corp. are 50-50 partners in the Tick project. Texaco will operate the platform in 720 ft of water, the deepest water for any Texaco-operated platform in the world.
The Tick platform will be in Garden Banks Block 189, a federal lease about 130 miles south of Lake Charles, La.
Start of production from two wells is planned for November. Eight more wells are to be drilled, although the platform can accommodate as many as 20 wells. At peak flow, Tick will be capable of producing 10,000 b/d of oil and 60 MMcfd of gas. Average gravity of the oil is 37.
The project, in which each partner will spend more than $50 million, took about 2 years to reach this point once the decision was made to proceed.
"That is extremely fast in this business," said Doug Carriger, Texaco's manager of offshore operations in the Gulf of Mexico. "We not only cut one-third off the time it usually takes to complete such a project, but we also have not had a single abandoned delineation well. Each well drilled will produce."
The Garden Banks Block 189 lease was acquired Oct. 1, 1983.
A discovery well was drilled in October 1988, followed by installation of a nine well subsea template.
PLATFORM DETAILS
Tick's steel jacket and deck weigh more than 12,000 tons and measure 970 ft from the top of the structure to the floor of the gulf.
The jacket, built by Gulf Island Fabrication, Houma, La., was to be towed down the Houma Navigation Channel on a 650 ft barge. The trip to the installation site was to take about 2 days.
The platform is a conventional four leg, 20 slot structure secured to 72 in. pilings driven to a penetration of 315 ft below the seabed.
A 31,360 sq ft deck built by Twin Bros. Marine Corp. near New Iberia, La., will be installed later this month. The deck and its equipment weigh 1,850 tons and feature state of the art fire detection and safety devices. The platform is designed for optimum environmental protection with a system that will contain all spilled liquids.
As on all Texaco platforms, workers will recycle aluminum, paper, and plastics. Styrofoam is banned on Texaco platforms.
Launching the jacket required a 3,500 ton capacity derrick barge. It was to be positioned using a satellite navigation system.
The jacket was scheduled to leave Gulf Island Fabrication's Bayou Dularge yard with a launch date targeted for Aug. 9.
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