Mississippi

BP said Tuesday that the Thunder Horse platform, which is located in the Mississippi Canyon area of the Gulf of Mexico, is unlikely to begin commercial production before the end of 2005. The platform, which was expected to start producing a large amount of gas and oil later this year, was found listing 20 degrees following Hurricane Dennis’ trip through the Gulf earlier this month.

Houston-based Spinnaker Exploration Co. said Tuesday it has discovered natural gas in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) about 100 miles southeast of Venice, LA. The field, in Mississippi Canyon Block 961, is situated 12 miles west-southwest of the future platform site of the Independence Hub project, and Spinnaker expects to ramp up production in 2007 when the hub is completed.

Shell said last week that it will further delay work to repair flexjoints on its Mars tension leg platform (TLP) in Mississippi Canyon Block 807 due to ongoing loop currents in the Mars Basin area of the Gulf of Mexico. The company intends to first complete flexjoint repairs at the Auger TLP in Garden Banks 426.

Shell said Tuesday that it will further delay work to repair flexjoints on its Mars tension leg platform (TLP) in Mississippi Canyon Block 807 due to ongoing loop currents in the Mars Basin area of the Gulf of Mexico. The company intends to first complete flexjoint repairs at the Auger TLP in Garden Banks 426.

Sonat said Tuesday it has identified a need for unscheduled maintenance on one of three compressor units at its Muldon Storage Field in Mississippi. Based on the best information available, it projected that the unit would return to service Friday evening. It did not estimate whether there would be any service impact.

Repairs have been completed on the Mississippi Canyon 109-BP Line and it has been approved to resume flow effective immediately, Sonat said Monday. See the bulletin board for a list of previously shut-in points where flows have been allowed to resume. The pipeline also reported completion of repairs on its South Pass 60 line, where a force majeure has been lifted and nominations were being accepted again Tuesday at Main Pass 116-Vintage. Prior to Hurricane Ivan, Sonat said, it was receiving 800-850 MMcf/d at 68 points upstream of Toca Compressor Station in southeast Louisiana. Field personnel have verified the integrity of the facilities associated with receipts from 50 of these points, it added. The 50 points, which had been flowing about 525 MMcf/d prior to Hurricane Ivan, are currently flowing about 420 MMcf/d, Sonat said.

FERC last Wednesday granted SG Resources Mississippi LLC (SGRM) a nearly two-year extension of the deadline to complete the Southern Pines Energy Center, a 12 Bcf high-performance salt dome storage project, in Greene County, MS.

FERC on Wednesday granted SG Resources Mississippi LLC (SGRM) a nearly two-year extension of the deadline to complete the Southern Pines Energy Center, a 12 Bcf high-performance salt dome storage project, in Greene County, MS.

Located in Mississippi Canyon Block 941, the well was drilled to a total depth of 29,100 feet to test the deeper Miocene intervals of the 1999 discovery called Mirage. The Mirage drilling program included an initial well drilled to 16,600 feet and a sidetrack that reached a depth of 22,400 feet.