Deep-water natural gas from ExxonMobil’s Hoover Diana discoveryin East Breaks Blocks 945 and 989 has begun flowing through thenewly constructed East Breaks Gathering System, an 85-mile, 20-inchdiameter pipeline running from water depths of 440 feet to 4,700feet in the Gulf of Mexico.

The pipeline was constructed by Deepwater Holdings, LLC, a jointventure equally owned by subsidiaries of El Paso Energy Partnersand Coastal Corp.’s ANR Pipeline. It connects the Hoover Diana DeepDraft Caisson Vessel platform production facilities in AlaminosCanyon Block 25 with Deepwater Holdings’ High Island OffshoreSystem (HIOS) in High Island Block A-573. The system, which has adesign capacity in excess of 400 MMcf/d currently is gatheringnatural gas produced by ExxonMobil (operator, 66.7%) and BP Amoco(33.3%).

Production figures are not currently available, but five wellsare connected, with possibly 10 or more slated. Production isexpected to ramp up through the end of the year.

“We are pleased to announce this significant new expansion ofour natural gas infrastructure in the Western Gulf of Mexico,” saidRobert G. Phillips, El Paso Energy Partners CEO. “The East Breakssystem was completed under budget and on time, and provides El PasoEnergy Partners, through its ownership in Deepwater Holdings, withaccess to new reserves in one of the most exciting deepwater areasof the Gulf of Mexico. We are encouraged by the level ofdevelopment and exploratory efforts in the area and expect the EastBreaks system to be an important part of our deepwater pipeline andplatform infrastructure.”

Heavy pipe was used to withstand the higher pressures createdoutside the pipe by the deep water that are greater than the gaspressure inside, according to Bart Heijermans, vice president ofoperations & engineering for El Paso Energy Partners.”Significant spans” also were laid across “some pretty big seabedcanyons,” he added. A new 1,000-foot long pipe-laying ship was usedto maintain the necessary tension to keep the pipe from buckling.The East Breaks Gathering System is the deepest underwater linecarrying processed gas from an offshore platform.

The Hoover Diana gas will be gathered and transported throughEast Breaks and HIOS to ANR at West Cameron Block 167, and fromthere to Coastal’s Eunice Gas Processing and Fractionation Plant,located onshore Louisiana.

©Copyright 2000 Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. Thepreceding news report may not be republished or redistributed, inwhole or in part, in any form, without prior written consent ofIntelligence Press, Inc.