Williams said Thursday it has signed agreements to transport oil and natural gas for the life of the leases in the Blind Faith field in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico for joint owners Chevron Corp. and Kerr-McGee Corp. The field has an estimated gross resource potential of more than 100 million boe, and initial production is expected to be 30,000 bbl/d of oil and 30 MMcf/d of natural gas.

Under the agreements, Chevron and Kerr-McGee dedicated to Williams the transport of production from their current and future ownership in the area surrounding the Blind Faith discovery. Chevron, the operator with a 62.5% stake, and Kerr-McGee, a 37.5% stakeholder, said earlier this week they plan to invest $900 million to develop the field using a semisubmersible production facility (see Daily GPI, Oct. 11). The field is located in about 7,000 feet of water at Mississippi Canyon blocks 695 and 696.

To accommodate production from the Blind Faith acreage and the surrounding blocks, Williams agreed to extend its Canyon Chief and Mountaineer pipelines. Both of these pipelines were placed in service in May 2004 to support production from the Devils Tower Field at Mississippi Canyon block 773. Williams expects to have the extensions ready for service by mid-2007. The $177 million project will include a 37-mile extension of each pipeline.

The agreement also creates opportunities for Williams to move natural gas from the Blind Faith discovery through its Mobile Bay, AL processing plant and its Transco and Gulfstream interstate pipeline systems. Recovered natural gas liquids from Blind Faith also could be fractionated at Williams’ facilities in Baton Rouge or Paradis, LA, the company said.

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