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| US regulatory agencies approve Petrobras' plan  The Mineral Management Service (MMS) has approved Petrobras' Conceptual Plan to develop the Cascade and Chinook fields, in the Gulf of Mexico. This is the first time the use of a Floating, Production, Storage, and Offloading (FPSO) type platform gets this level of approval to operate in the Gulf of Mexico. Subordinate to the Department of the Interior, the MMS is the American Government's agency that manages oil, natural gas, and other mineral resources in the United States' offshore continental platform.By using new technologies, Petrobras will be able to speed-up field development in phases, and production is slated to commence there in 2009. Petrobras has proposed using six new technologies that have never been applied in the American sector of the Gulf of Mexico, including FPSOs with disconnectable turrets, which allow them to be removed in the event of hurricanes or other storms, oil transportation by relief vessels, submerged pumps, self-sustainable risers, torpedo piles, and polyester anchoring lines. The plan foresees the installation and operation of an FPSO at water depths of approximately 2,500 meters. In the first phase, two submarine wells in Cascade and one in Chinook, each at a depth of nearly 8,200 meters, will be interconnected. Oil and gas production will be offloaded by relief vessels and via a gas pipeline, respectively. Depending on reservoir behavior, new wells may be interconnected in the future. Petrobras is the operator of the Cascade and Chinook wells, with 50% and 66.7% participations, respectively. Devon Energy Corporation holds the remaining participation in Cascade, while TOTAL E&P USA, INC., a Total SA subsidiary, has 33.33% of Chinook. write your comments about the article :: © 2006 Construction News :: home page |