EMAS’ flagship vessel, Lewek Constellation
Gunflint oil field lies in Mississippi Canyon Blocks 948, 949, 992(N/2) and 993(N/2), 90 miles (144km) south off the coast of Louisiana, US, in the Gulf of Mexico.
Kodiak Oil Field, Gulf of Mexico, USA
The oil field lies in water depth of 4,700ft in the Mississippi Canyon Blocks 727/771 in the Gulf of Mexico.
The field is jointly owned by Noble Energy (31.14%), Ecopetrol America (31.5%), Marathon Oil Company (18.23%) and Samson Offshore Mapleleaf (19.13%).
Discovered in 2008, the field is planned to be developed as a subsea tieback with first oil expected in 2016. The development marks an important milestone for Noble Energy in deepwater development and moving beyond suprasalt amplitude plays to the subsalt Miocene.
The field development encountered certain delays owing to the drilling rig explosion on the Macondo prospect, operated by BP, in April 2010.
Gunflint oil field discovery
Drilled in 2008, the first discovery well encountered more than 500ft of hydrocarbon pay in multiple high-quality reservoirs rich in oil and natural gas. The well is located at a depth of approximately 6,100ft and was drilled to a total depth of 29,280ft.
Lease for the subsalt Miocene prospect was obtained in March 2006, and another two appraisal wells were drilled and evaluated in 2012 and 2013.
The development was declared commercially viable after results from the first appraisal well were confirmed in the third quarter of 2012. The decision to develop the prospect was finally taken in 2013.
Reserves
The field is estimated to contain gross resource potential between 90m and 325m barrels of oil equivalent (boe).
Gunflint offshore oil field development
Plans for development of the Gunflint offshore field involve drilling two production wells that will be tied back to existing infrastructure.
Agreements were signed with Gulfstar to tie-back the wells to its floating production system (FPS). The Gunflint tieback was engineered and designed with certain modifications to be completed after the completion of the Gulfstar One project.
Gulfstar’s project consists of a spar-based floating production system moored in approximately 4,000ft of water and 135 miles (217km) south-east of New Orleans. It is owned by Williams Partners (51%) in collaboration with Marubeni Corporation (49%).
“Discovered in 2008, the field is planned to be developed as a subsea tieback with first oil expected in 2016.”
The FPS is designed to produce up to 60,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) and 135 million cubic feet of gas a day with additional tieback capacity. It will act as a hub that will collect the produced oil and provide handling services along with oil and gas export pipeline facilities.
Key players involved with the Gunflint offshore project
An offshore service provider owned by Ezra Holdings, EMAS signed a letter of agreement (LOA) with Noble Energy for developing the Gunflint project in the Gulf of Mexico.
The scope of the agreement includes offshore installation of pipelines, umbilicals and ancillary equipment in water depths of 2,000m. The pipeline installation will be performed by EMAS’ flagship vessel, Lewek Constellation.
Other activities, including pipe stalking and fabrication of subsea structures will be performed at the EMAS Marine Base in Ingleside, Texas. Spread over 120 acres, the EMAS Marine Base is a deepwater support facility and pipeline fabrication base.
