Independence Hub, an affiliate of Enterprise Products Partners, and the Atwater Valley Producers Group, which includes Anadarko Petroleum, Dominion Exploration & Production (a subsidiary of Dominion), Kerr-McGee Oil & Gas (a wholly-owned affiliate of Kerr-McGee), Spinnaker Exploration Co, and Devon Energy, have agreed plans for the processing and gathering of gas and condensate production from six gasfields in the Atwater Valley, DeSoto Canyon, and Lloyd Ridge areas of the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. As part of the transaction, the producers also have dedicated future production from a number of undeveloped blocks in the area for processing and gathering.
Enterprise will design, construct, install and own Independence Hub, a 35-m deep-draft, semi-submersible platform with a two-level production deck, which will be capable of processing 850 million cubic feet of gas per day. The platform, which is estimated to cost approximately $385 million, will be operated by Anadarko, and is designed to process production from the six anchor fields and has excess payload capacity to tie-back up to 10 additional fields.
Independence Hub will be located on Mississippi Canyon block 920, in a water depth of 2625m. This location was selected for the permanently anchored host facility based on favourable seafloor conditions and proximity to the identified anchor fields. First production is expected in 2007. The fields will be tied-back to the platform through producer-owned subsea flowline systems; the fields’ water depths range from 2595m to 2950m.
Enterprise will also own, install, and operate 225km of 24-in pipeline, with a capacity of approximately 850 million cubic feet of gas per day, named Independence Trail. The pipeline, which is estimated to cost $280 million, will redeliver the production from Independence Hub into the Tennessee Gas Pipeline located in West Delta 68. Among other aspects of the project, Enterprise has the pipeline installation contract to awarded key contracts to Allseas USA.
Story courtesy Global Pipeline Monthly – www.gasandoil.com/gpm.