Special topics
The next MTS Houston Section luncheon will be held on June 23, 2011 and will feature a presentation by Dennis McLaughlin, Kosmos Energy on the challenges of the Jubilee project offshore Ghana. Mr. McLaughlin is Senior Vice President Development with Kosmos Energy in Dallas.
From the start, the Jubilee Project was ambitious and challenging, representing the first significant development ever offshore Ghana. In order to execute a world-class deepwater project in an area with no existing infrastructure, and with less than three years from the start of concept selection, a Joint Venture agreement was established, splitting operators and responsibilities.
Kosmos Energy was appointed Technical Operator for the project responsible for assembly and leading the Integrated Project Team (IPT) in preparing the plan of development, designing the depletion plan, planning and executing the Phase 1 project, and delivering a fully commissioned FPSO-based development system to the Unit Operator. Tullow Oil was appointed the Unit Operator responsible for formally liaising with the Government of Ghana, executing all development drilling and completion activities, building the in-country infrastructure and organizing production operations, and operating the field.
Jubilee first oil occurred on 28 November, 2010 and the field continues to ramp up production and injection as wells are completed. Despite several significant technical and commercial hurdles, the project achieved excellent HSE, schedule, and cost performance. The IPT continued to support the UO’s production operations post-first oil, and the final commissioning of gas compression/injection systems was achieved in May 2011. While there have been the normal challenges with shaking down a large and complex production system, overall uptime performance has been very good.
The Integrated Project Team recently completed its last Lessons Learned session/report, focusing on the Installation, Hook-up, Commissioning and Transition to Production Operations phase of the project. The results have been combined with the previous session/report covering the Concept, Sanction, and Equipment Delivery phases of Jubilee. These lessons will be applied by Kosmos and Tullow as they evaluate development projects for their other operated Ghana discoveries in the West Cape Three Points and Deepwater Tano blocks, respectively.
About the Speaker – Dennis McLaughin
Dennis McLaughlin is Senior Vice President, Development for Kosmos Energy in Dallas. Recently, as Jubilee Project Director, he led the Phase 1 development project for this giant deepwater discovery offshore Ghana. He has over 35 years of experience, most of which has involved frontier/deepwater technology and projects. Dennis also has worked for three major energy companies, including roles as director for three milestone deepwater projects. He has a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering from Michigan State University.
http://www.oilvoice.com/n/Jubilee_Project_Performance_and_Lessons_Learned/1da4bba67.aspx