Ramped

Forest Oil Corp.’s second horizontal well in the Haynesville Shale ramped up in early July at an initial production rate of 20.3 MMcfe/d, the producer said Monday.

Production from the Thunder Hawk Field in the Gulf of Mexico ramped up in early July, according to operator Murphy Oil Corp. The field is in Mississippi Canyon Block 734, with output processed by a semi-submersible floating production unit built by SBM Offshore. The unit is able to process up to 70 MMcf/d of natural gas and 45,000 b/d of oil. Thunder Hawk is in more than 5,700 feet of water and is about 145 miles southeast of New Orleans. Three subsea wells initially were connected via flow lines to the facility; more are to be added. Murphy holds a 37.5% stake in the project. Partners are Eni and StatoilHydro USA E&P, which each hold a 25% stake, and Marubeni Oil & Gas (USA), which has a 12.5% interest.

BP plc has ramped up production from the Dorado and King South projects in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico (GOM) as subsea tiebacks to its existing Marlin Tension Leg Platform (TLP) infrastructure, which is located about 125 miles southeast of New Orleans.

The deepwater Independence Hub platform, the largest natural gas production hub in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), ramped up gas flow to more than 700 MMcf/d late Monday, a positive sign of an eventual return to normal operations for the devastated Gulf Coast. However, at least three offshore gas pipelines were damaged and 28 of the 3,800 offshore oil and gas platforms on the Outer Continental Shelf in the GOM were destroyed by Hurricane Ike.

The Rockies Express Pipeline (REX) may be the super highway for natural gas when it is completely ramped up, but pipeline competitors already are forecasting a gap between the ever-growing production in the Rocky Mountains and takeaway demand, which together will require another major pipe system within three or four years.

The Rockies Express Pipeline (REX) may be the super highway for natural gas when it is completely ramped up, but pipeline competitors already are forecasting a gap between the ever-growing production in the Rocky Mountains and takeaway demand, which together will require another major pipe system within three or four years.

The Lynx natural gas pipeline, which will act as the main trunk system for the growing Grande Cache area of the Northern Alberta Foothills, has ramped up with throughput now at 40 MMcf/d, Talisman Energy said Thursday. The 45-mile-long system will gather up to 130 MMcf/d of sour gas from the greater Grande Cache area, a growing gas play for Talisman.

The initial field in Kerr-McGee Corp.’s 100%-owned Constitution field in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico last week ramped up to a production rate of 15,000 bbl/d of oil and 12 MMcf/d of gas. Located in Green Canyon blocks 679 and 680 in 5,000 feet of water, the field has estimated resources of about 110 MMboe.

Excelerate Energy LLC, which ramped up operations at its Gulf Gateway liquefied natural gas (LNG) Energy Bridge Deepwater Port offshore Louisiana one month ago, will file an application to build its second facility offshore Massachusetts within the next two weeks, and has begun laying plans for another one offshore California, the president said Thursday.