The supply of the first bespoke 'male latch' bend stiffeners helped to reduce costly downtime after an issue with a deepwater production riser system threatened to delay first oil. Caesar/Tonga is a joint project operated by Anadarko Petroleum Corp. developed as a subsea tieback to the Constitution spar facility situated 306 km (190 miles) off the coast of New Orleans. The Spar has the capacity to produce 70,000 b/d of oil and 200 MMcf/d of natural gas. A combined development by Anadarko and its partners, the Caesar/Tonga development comprises the Tonga, Tonga West, and Caesar fields in the Green Canyon area of the Gulf of Mexico (GoM). The first development phase is estimated to have cost US $1.3 billion, including the drilling of four wells. The first three wells were put into operation in March; the fourth well is anticipated to be completed before year-end 2012. Flow and reservoir tests on the first three wells were undertaken during 2Q 2011, with all the wells testing at flow rates of 15,000 b/d of high-quality oil. The Caesar/Tonga development was the first not only to use a spar floating production facility but also the pioneering application of steel lazy wave riser technology in the GoM.
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