American Oil and Gas Reporter - June 2015 - 102

SpecialReport: Offshore & Subsea Technology

The Tubular Bells deepwater oil
and gas field was discovered in
2003 in 4,300 feet of water in
Mississippi Canyon Block 724.
Jeff Wirth, Gulf of Mexico asset
director for Hess Corporation,
reports first production from Tubular Bells came on in fourth
quarter 2014, and net production
is forecast to average 30,00035,000 barrels of oil equivalent
by year-end.

classic-design spar anchored by nine mooring
lines. Wirth says the facility utilizes the
most advanced, high-tech, vertical production
tree system in the world.
The initial subsea development architecture has two drill centers connected to
three production wells, a midfield in-line
sled for a fourth production well and two
water injection wells. Two eight-inch
subsea production flowlines and one
eight-inch water injection line tie back
to the Tubular Bells floating production
system. Oil and gas are transported to
shore through two 12-inch export lines.
Wirth says Hess is planning further
exploration, too, mentioning it was the
high bidder on four blocks in the March
lease sale.

safely. He uses lifting and hoisting as one
example where Hess has made efforts to
improve safety by making problems visible
with data and ensuring simple visual standards are in place. "This reduced the
number of Hess' lifting and hoisting incidents in the Gulf of Mexico by 40 percent
in 2014," Wirth proclaims. "A safe operation
also is efficient. It goes hand-in-hand."

Lean Thinking
Like efforts to become more efficient
in onshore unconventional resource plays,
Hess is trying to use what Wirth describes
as "lean thinking" to become more efficient
in the Gulf as well.
"It is step innovation," he describes.
"How do we innovate and then improve
on it? In the Bakken, we cut drilling days
in half. The same capability is being applied in deep water. For example, how
do you cut in half the time it takes to
change subsea chokes? In the deep water,
it is all about reducing cycle time."
One of the other keys to Hess' GOM
operations, according to Wirth, is operating
102 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

Who Dat
LLOG Exploration Company LLC has
been one of the most active operators in
the Gulf of Mexico, and possesses a 70
percent success rate on nearly 200 exploration wells drilled in the past 10
years. It has 35 wells on line in the Gulf
of Mexico and has interests in more than
135 blocks, states President and Chief
Executive Officer Scott Gutterman, who
says his company is continuing to focus
on exploration in 2015.
Gutterman notes that LLOG is winding
down initial development of Who Dat,
located in Mississippi Canyon, 130 miles
south of New Orleans. The discovery
well was drilled in 2007.
"We are drilling the G-3 well, which
will be the last well we drill in Who Dat
for the next year or so," he said in late
May. "After completing the G-1 well, we
have nine wells producing about 32,000
barrels of oil and 45 million cubic feet of
natural gas a day. Who Dat was a gamechanger for us. It was the first floating
production facility we commissioned. It
has been fantastic."
The Who Dat Field produces primarily
oil, and consists of nine stacked, amplitude-supported reservoirs in a salt withdrawal mini-basin. Collectively, Gutterman
says, the wells penetrated more than 700
feet of net pay in nine distinct reservoirs
that ranged in depth from 12,000 to
17,000 feet true vertical depth. LLOG

LLOG Exploration Company
LLC has two South Timbalier
wells on line with gas condensate pay in its operated Powerball Field in 226 feet of water,
115 miles south of New Orleans.
President and Chief Executive
Officer Scott Gutterman reports
the wells are producing 1,000
barrels of oil and 40 million
cubic feet of natural gas a day.

American Oil and Gas Reporter - June 2015

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