Phoenix rising

Most operators rightly view the 2005 hurricane season as a major blow to the Gulf of Mexico’s production infrastructure whose effects are still being felt, but at least one has preferred to view it as an opportunity. With the Phoenix field, Helix Energy Solutions plans to bring the first ever ship-shaped floating production unit (FPU) to the Gulf of Mexico, and to resurrect the field previously known as Typhoon.

Helix Energy Resource Technology, Inc. (Helix ERT), the production arm of Helix Energy Solutions Group, acquired the nine blocks comprising the leases and infrastructure of the Typhoon Mini-Basin development in Green Canyon block 237 from previous owners Chevron, BHP Billiton and Noble Energy in August 2006. The Mini-Basin includes the Typhoon field, as well as Boris and Little Burn, and exploration prospects Balvenie, Tornado and Kissy-Suzuki. The Typhoon development was originally based on a tension leg platform (TLP), which was lost during Hurricane Rita when it was severed from its moorings, capsized and floated for nearly 60 miles.

Phoenix rises from the ashes of Typhoon

When Helix ERT made the announcement of the Typhoon acquisition, it announced at the same time plans to use a reusable, mobile ship-shaped floating production unit (FPU) to develop all of the fields and get production kicked off in 3Q 2008. The remediation and development plan of the field, now renamed Phoenix, involves nearly every service line of the greater Helix Energy Solutions Group.

The company has spent the past several years acquiring and developing business units that provide services from drilling and well servicing to pipelay, subsea installation and production. The group is comprised of seven different divisions, which include ERT, Well Operations, Deepwater Contracting, Cal Dive (manned diving services), Helix RDS (subsurface consulting services), Canyon (ROV provider), and Production Facilities (owner of offshore production infrastructure).

According to Cory Weinbel, General Manager of Helix’s Production Facilities group, this “all under one roof” organization provides a competitive advantage over other production companies, who are forced to bid out for various installation services. “We’ve made a conscious effort within the last five to seven years to be able to execute projects ourselves, which would include project management and overseeing the design, fabrication, and installation of equipment.”

Weinbel pointed out another benefit in using a FPU to develop Phoenix. “We can produce at Phoenix for five to ten years until production depletes, and then pick up stakes and move the vessel to another field and commence production there.”

Work on the Phoenix development is underway on three major fronts: (1) remediation of hurricane damaged subsea infrastructure, (2) development of new subsea infrastructure, and (3) design and development of a new FPU.

(1) Remediation of hurricane damaged infrastructure

The remediation effort at the old Typhoon TLP site will entail decommissioning most existing flowlines and umbilicals, which were ripped away from the TLP during Hurricane Rita and remained on the sea floor. This effort will also require removing some of the debris from the toppled TLP and decommissioning, repairing, and re-commissioning the existing oil and gas export pipelines.

“The remediation effort will require the services of the Deepwater Contracting group, as well as other Helix service groups as needed, such as Well Ops for the recovery of subsea equipment,” said Weinbel.

Somewhat surprisingly, the subsea wells will not be part of the remediation effort. Helix deployed its multi-service vessel the MSV Q4000 soon after the August 2006 acquisition to check the condition of the subsea wells, and a preliminary examination found the active subsea wells to be intact and unharmed. The subsea wells were Cameron-supplied MOSAIC (Modular Subsea and Integrated Completion) subsea trees, which are modular subsea wellheads containing an emergency safety shut-in valve feature.

The only major damage subsea seems to have been to the two export risers, the production risers and umbilicals, and possibly the termination assemblies, which link flowlines and umbilicals to the wellhead. According to Weinbel, “bottom line, we did not see any significant damage to any of the wells. We will probably have to install new PLETs (pipeline end termination) and well jumpers, but we will use as much of the existing wellhead equipment as possible.”

In terms of damage to pipeline assets at the Typhoon location, pipeline owner Enterprise Products Partners stated as early as October 2005 that preliminary assessments of the Typhoon oil and natural gas gathering pipelines indicate no major damage to Enterprise’s assets. However, there is some replacement work of subsea infrastructure and segments of the export lines and flexible risers to be done near the Typhoon subsea well sites.

(2) Development of new subsea infrastructure

New umbilicals, flowlines, jumpers and flexible risers will be necessary for the Phoenix subsea production system, and Helix’s Production Facilities Business Unit and Helix Capital Projects Group are managing the design, procurement and installation of this equipment. The initial scope of work for the planned 3Q 2008 startup calls for hooking up new infrastructure to the existing wells only. No additional wells will be drilled for the initial work, although satellite wells will be drilled in the future using the Q4000, which will be converted to a drilling rig (at the time of this writing, no firm timeline has been planned for this work).

Meanwhile, the Deepwater Contracting Group is working with Enterprise to agree on a scope of work for installing a new gas export pipeline segment and a new oil export pipeline segment as well as the installation of two new six-in. ID flexible risers. “The flexible export risers will have to be connected to Enterprise’s existing export pipeline infrastructure with special connection equipment,” said Weinbel. “I wouldn’t say these connections are easy to do, but it’s fairly straightforward.”

This work is being coordinated in the Gulf Coast region. While no firm deadline has been given for the completion of subsea infrastructure installation activities, Helix currently plans to have this equipment installed sometime in the first half of 2008.

(3) Design and development of new FPU

Helix’s Production Facilities Group is responsible for the design, construction, and installation of Phoenix’s new production unit, a dynamically-positioned (DP), ship-shaped FPU called the Helix Producer I.

Conversion of vessel to a DP vessel The FPU will be converted from an ice-class train ferry, and will require the contracting of several engineering and construction firms in Croatia, the UK, and the U.S. Gulf of Mexico to fabricate and install various components of the FPU.

The ice-class ferry M/V Karl has been secured for conversion into the Helix Producer I. The converted vessel will be owned by a new company known as Kommandor LLC, which is a 50/50 joint venture between Helix and Danish company Kommandor Romo A/S.

Conversion of the M/V Karl to a DP vessel began in July 2006, at the Viktor Lenac Shipyard in Rijeka, Croatia. The conversion scope at the Viktor Lenac yard includes adding full-length sponsons on each side of the vessel for additional deck space and payload capability, adding thrusters and control for the DP2 system, and upgrading living quarters and additional key equipment.

This initial conversion is expected to be complete by the end of 2007, at which point the vessel will travel to the UK for installation of the riser hang-off structure.

Pages: 1 2