Steady hand of operator makes Thunder Hawk fly

Work of Murphy's project team is 'key to success' for US Gulf fieldthe successful installation and start-up of the Thunder Hawk oil and gas production semi-submersible in the deep-water Gulf of Mexico can be attributed to early planning and decision-making by the project team, according to John James, general manager development and facilities for operator Murphy Exploration&Production.

Thunder Hawk in part derives its name from being in the same basin area as BP's billion-barrel Thunder Horse oilfield.

While Thunder Hawk is not quite on the same scale of production as the 250,000-plus barrels-per-day Thunder Horse field, it is nevertheless a major achievement for operator Murphy together with its integrated project team partners Eni, StatoilHydro and Marubeni.

The semisub is the third floating platform Murphy has installed in the deep-water US Gulf following two spar installations at Medusa and Front Runner.

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Steady hand of operator makes Thunder Hawk fly