Engineer

All in the family
Many companies often try to replicate successful prior
projects and one such company that has managed to do so
is Houston-based independent Anadarko Petroleum.
The company opted for a “design one, build two” strategy
when it came to developing the Lucius and Heidelberg fields
in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico (OE: August 2015), choosing
to use a standalone spar for each. Lucius came online first,
in January 2015, and Heidelberg followed, just last month
(January 2016) – three months earlier than expected.
The Lucius field is about 275mi southeast of Galveston,
Texas, and includes portions of Keathley Canyon blocks 874,
875, 918 and 919 in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, in about
7000ft water depth. The 110ft-diameter spar was designed
for 80,000 bo/d and 450 MMcf/d of natural gas. Reserves
will be produced through six initial wet tree wells.
Heidelberg is in Green Canyon 859, some 390mi off
Texas, and consists of six production wells, one standalone
truss spar, two drill centers, dual looped 8in flowlines,
and 16in oil and gas export lines. The 80,000 bo/d, 80
MMcf/d-capacity Heidelberg spar is able to operate in water
5300ft deep. It has a maximum topsides operating weight
of 16,000-ton, and a hull weight of 23,000-ton. The spar is
605ft-long with a 110ft-diameter.
According to Anadarko, the company was able to keep the
Heidelberg design 87% identical to Lucius. And Anadarko
kept much of the same processes in place. Heidelberg’s
topsides, like Lucius, were constructed at the Kiewit yard
in Ingleside, Texas. The pair’s hulls were constructed by
Technip in Pori, Finland. To reach Texas, the Heidelberg spar
sailed 7300nm over 27 days from September to October
2014 on Dockwise’s Mighty Servant I. The same journey its
sister spar, Lucius, made in 2013.
Anadarko operates Lucius with 23.8% interest. Its
partners are Freeport-McMoran (25.1%), ExxonMobil
(23.3%), Petrobras (11.5%), Eni (8.5%), and Inpex (7.75%).
Anadarko operates Heidelberg with 31.5% interest. Its
partners on that project include Cobalt (9.375%), Eni
(12.5%), ExxonMobil (9.375%), Freeport McMoRan (12.5%),
Marubeni (12.75%), and Statoil (12%).
—Audrey Leon
ANALYSIS
The Lucius spar. Anadarko Petroleum kept the Heidelberg
design 87% identical to Lucius’.
Images from Anadarko Petroleum.
oedigital.com
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February 2016 | OE
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