BP’s giant Argos platform arrives in Texas – gallery

 Argos, the centrepiece of BP’s $9 billion Mad Dog 2 project, has arrived in the U.S.  after  completing its 16,000-mile journey from South Korea to the Kiewit Offshore Services fabrication yard in Ingleside, Texas.

The arrival of the new floating production unit is a major milestone towards the completion of Mad Dog 2, BP said on Monday.

Once online, Argos will significantly strengthen BP’s high-margin oil and gas business in the Gulf of Mexico. It is also expected to support about 800 jobs during the work in Ingleside and about 250 jobs once in operation.

Argos, a semi-submersible, floating production platform, will be the company’s fifth operated platform in the Gulf of Mexico – and the first new platform since Thunder Horse began production in 2008. 

It will provide BP with growth potential and an estimated 25 per cent increase in production capacity in the region.

Gordon Birrell, executive vice president, production & operations: “When Argos is fully in place, Mad Dog 2 will be set to deliver resilient barrels from one of the most prolific basins in the world, strengthening our position in the Gulf for years to come”.

The construction of the 60,000-ton platform – with a deck the length and width of an American football field – began in March 2018 at Samsung Heavy Industries shipyard in South Korea. 

The platform was loaded onto Boskalis’ submersible heavy transport vessel BOKA Vanguard in late January 2021 and started its journey to Texas in early February. The journey took over 60 days.

According to BP, while in Texas, the Argos platform will undergo final preparatory work and regulatory inspections before heading offshore.

Following work at Kiewit, Argos will be towed to its offshore home in the Gulf of Mexico, and will be installed about six miles from the original Mad Dog spar, about 190 miles south of New Orleans, where it will operate in 4,500 feet of water.

At peak, the facility will produce up to 140,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) through a subsea production system from 14 production wells. It will be connected to and export oil and gas through nearby existing pipeline infrastructure. 

Reserves recovery will be boosted by injecting 140,000 barrels a day of processed seawater into the reservoir through water injection wells, adopting BP’s proprietary LoSal  Enhanced Oil Recovery technology.

The start-up of Mad Dog 2 is projected for the second quarter of 2022. BP previously expected the first production from the project in late 2021.