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Amoco, Shell slate another TLP for eastern Gulf of Mexico

Feb. 3, 1997

Marlin Development [30650 bytes] A new deepwater tension-leg platform (TLP) development project is advancing in the Gulf of Mexico. Operator Amoco Corp. and Shell Oil Co. unit Shell Deepwater Development Inc. will develop Marlin oil and gas field, a 1993 discovery, on Viosca Knoll Block 915 in 3,240 ft of water (OGJ, July 26, 1993, p. 42). Location is about 125 miles from New Orleans and 100 miles south of Mobile, Ala., in the eastern gulf.

Marlin Development [30650 bytes]

A new deepwater tension-leg platform (TLP) development project is advancing in the Gulf of Mexico.

Operator Amoco Corp. and Shell Oil Co. unit Shell Deepwater Development Inc. will develop Marlin oil and gas field, a 1993 discovery, on Viosca Knoll Block 915 in 3,240 ft of water (OGJ, July 26, 1993, p. 42). Location is about 125 miles from New Orleans and 100 miles south of Mobile, Ala., in the eastern gulf.

The $500 million project will utilize a TLP and ultimately produce 250 MMcfd of gas and 40,000 b/d of oil from four or five wells. Production is expected to begin in mid-1999.

Amoco has a 75% working interest and Shell 25%.

Amoco and another Shell unit are involved in another eastern gulf TLP development. Operator Shell Offshore Inc., Amoco, and Exxon Co. U.S.A. will develop the Ram-Powell unit in 3,218 ft of water on Viosca Knoll Block 956 (OGJ, Jan. 20, 1997, p. 37). Ram-Powell TLP is scheduled for installation in May 1997, and production is slated to begin in August.

TLP, pipeline plans

Construction of the Marlin TLP will begin this year.

The hull will be fabricated by Belleli SpA at Taranto, Italy. Aker Gulf Marine will build the topsides at its Ingleside, Tex., complex. Steel tendons will be used to tether the hull to the seafloor.

ABB Lummus Global Inc., Bloomfield, N.J., has been awarded a turnkey contract covering design, engineering, construction, and installation. The company said the contract is the first ever awarded to a single contractor to carry out all facets of design and construction involving a TLP and related pipelines.

Marlin production will come ashore via the Amoco-operated Main Pass Oil Gathering System, installed in 1996, and gas will be transported to market through the Destin pipeline, a planned joint-venture pipeline of Amoco, Shell, and Southern Natural Gas Co.

The Destin pipeline will come ashore at Pascagoula, Miss., where an Amoco/Shell gas processing complex will be built. From there, the pipeline will extend north and connect with five interstate pipelines in Mississippi.

Oil and gas sales pipelines will be laid to connect with the Main Pass and Destin systems.