Photo by: Bloomberg
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Diversified miner BHP Billiton has approved a $2.2-billion investment for its share of the Mad Dog Phase 2 development, in the Gulf of Mexico.
The Mad Dog Phase 2 project, in which BHP holds a 23.9% interest, is a southern and south-western extension of the existing Mad Dog field, and includes a new floating production facility with the capacity to produce up to 140 000 gross barrels of crude oil a day from 14 production wells.
Production is expected to start in 2022.
“Mad Dog Phase 2 is one of the largest discovered and undeveloped resources in the Gulf of Mexico, one of BHP Billiton’s preferred conventional deep-water basins,” said BHP petroleum president Steve Pastor.
“It offers an attractive investment opportunity for BHP and aligns with our strategic objective to build our conventional portfolio through the development of large, long-life, high-quality resources.”
The Mad Dog field is operated by oil major BP, which holds a 60.5% interest in the project. Union Oil Company holds the remaining 15.6%.
The Phase 2 project was placed on ice in 2013 after the initial design proved too complex and costly; however, in December, BP sanctioned the $9-billion Mad Dog Phase 2 project after the project partners worked to simplify and standardise the platform design, reducing the overall project cost by some 60%.
The Mad Dog 2 platform will be moored about six miles to the south-west of the existing Mad Dog platform, which has the capacity to produce 80 000 bbl/d of oil and 60-million cubic feet a day of natural gas.