Argos, the second platform for the “super-giant” BP Mad Dog field in the Gulf of Mexico, has set sail from its manufacturing yard in South Korea.
The Argos floating production unit (FPU) was loaded up onto the Boskalis Vanguard last week and has now set off on its 15,000-mile voyage to a fabrication yard in Ingleside, Texas, which is expected to last more than 60 days.
After prepatory work and inspections, the 60,000 tonne structure will eventually be installed nearly 200 miles south of New Orleans at the Mad Dog field, producing up to 140,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
Announcing the sailaway, BP released footage of Argos being loaded up onto the Boskalis vessel.
Mad Dog is already served by a production platform, but appraisal drilling between 2009 and 2011 doubled resource estimates to more than 4billion barrels, spurring the need for a second.
Originally estimated to cost $20bn, the “Mad Dog 2” project is now estimated at $9billion and was sanctioned by BP in 2016.
“Argos” was chosen as the name in reference to Odysseus’ loyal dog from “The Odyssey,” and a nod to the Mad Dog spar, an existing production facility operated by BP that is located about six nautical miles away from the Argos site.
BP said more than 15million man-hours have gone into fabricating the FPU at the Samsung Heavy Industries shipyard in South Korea.
Mad Dog was discovered in 1998 and started production from the first platform in 2005.
Argos will be BP’s fifth operated platform in the Gulf of Mexico and it will help extend the life of the Mad Dog oil field beyond 2050.