Until 2010, Devil’s Tower was the record holder for a production
truss spar operating in the deepest water.
“The combination of our two floaters (Gulfstar and Devil’s Tower)
and associated oil and gas export pipeline systems, along with
the capabilities of our Mobile Bay natural gas liquids processing
assets, allow us to handle a significant amount of oil and gas
coming out of the Central Gulf,” added Cizek.
Technology in the West
Over in the western Gulf, Williams’ deepwater focus has been in
the ultra-deep Perdido and Keathley Canyon areas.
Operated by Shell Offshore Inc, Perdido is the deepest production
spar in the world at a depth of about 8,000 feet. Located in the
Alaminos Canyon Area block 857 near the U.S./Mexican border,
the platform has a peak production design of 100,000 barrels of oil
per day.
Pat Carroll, vice president and general manager of Williams’ Gulf
West franchise, says recent technological advancements have
unlocked production opportunities in areas previously thought
impossible to reach.
“In the early development of the Gulf of Mexico, we were really
limited by technology to the OCS (Outer Continental Shelf). As
technology has advanced, it has made it possible for producers
to go deeper and deeper and, more importantly, extract a greater
portion of the in place reserves,” said Carroll.
Carroll says that in the Western Gulf, the biggest opportunity
for Williams lies in the Lower Tertiary trend. Shell has invested
more than $4 billion to establish the Perdido facility for the
Lower Tertiary, featuring subsea tiebacks from four separate fields
(handling production from Alaminos Canyon blocks 812, 813, 815,
856, 857, 859 and 901). Williams has invested another half billion
dollars to install oil and gas export pipelines to connect this prolific
deepwater supply area with existing shelf transmission systems
while also doubling its Markham natural gas liquids processing
plant along the Texas Gulf Coast.
Approximately 180 miles east of Perdido in the L