Pioneering designs add value to offshore platforms for oil and gas producers. Ten years ago, when the deepwater Gulf of Mexico started to take off, die primary focus of project teams was to shave off as much of die capital cost as possible, assuming mat the reservoirs were well understood and that there was a deep and liquid market for drilling rigs. The central challenge was how to apply new technologies with the low price regime that was prevalent at the time. The next phase of deepwater development faces very different challenges. The drilling market is tighter, wells are much deeper, seismic information for the reservoirs is of much lower quality and capital costs are higher. New integrated development systems and associated business models are required in order to confront these new commercial realities. Ed Horton, chairman of AGR Deepwater Development Systems, believes the industry needs a new paradigm. Flexible units available on a leased basis that can drill, produce and relocate will form an enabling technology to address these challenges. The development team at the company consists many of the same people who assisted in the development of various generations of the spar technology.
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