Slow down: ATP pushes back MinDoc schedules.
ATP changes game plan
US independent ATP Oil & Gas has confirmed that it has postponed the construction of the second MinDoc floating production platform due to cash concerns and has pushed back installation of the first MinDoc in the deep-water Gulf of Mexico to the middle of this year.
Instead of using the MinDoc 2 as originally intended, ATP has elected to tie-back Atwater Valley Block 63 as a single subsea well to the MinDoc 1, which the company has dubbed the ATP Titan.
The decision reflects ATP’s desire to reign in expenses in response to the decline in oil prices and the global financial crunch.
Late third-party vendor deliveries and labour issues at the Gulf Marine Fabricators yard near Corpus Christi, Texas, were also factors in its decision.
Upstream reported those plans in its print edition on 6 February.
Meanwhile, the schedule for sailaway and mooring of the ATP Titan has slipped from the first quarter to mid-2009.
It will be moored over the Mirage and Morgus fields to complete and produce three wells at Mississippi Canyon Blocks 941 and 942 by early next year.
After Mirage and Morgus are produced ATP will move the ATP Titan to Atwater Valley Block 63 to recover the remaining reserves.
The facility is designed to produce up to 25,000 barrels of oil and 60 million cubic feet of gas per day.
On the Gulf of Mexico shelf, ATP will start production from South Marsh Island Block 190 in the third quarter.
ATP also resumed production from its 100%-operated Gomez Hub semi-submersible in Mississippi Canyon Block 711 in January and will bring the Mississippi Canyon 711 number-8, sidetrack-2 well on line before the end of March.
In the North Sea, ATP drilled the Wenlock-2 well to 15,200 feet and completed it with a 3,000-foot horizontal section. Initial production is expected by the end of March.
Afterwards ATP will drill the Bodbury prospect, northwest of Wenlock. ATP has a 20% working interest in Bodbury and operates it and both Wenlock wells.