Gallery: BP’s giant Argos platform heads to Texas

BP’s giant Argos floating production unit (FPU), built for the Mad Dog 2 project in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico by Samsung Heavy Industries, last week sailed away from a South Korean yard to Ingleside, Texas. 

As previously reported, the Argos FPU was loaded onto Boskalis’ semi-submersible heavy transport vessel BOKA Vanguard in late January in preparation for transport and sail away.

BP named the new platform Argos for the Mad Dog 2 project back in November 2018. The name is a reference to Odysseus’ loyal dog and a nod to the Mad Dog spar, BP’s existing production facility that is located about six nautical miles away from the Argos site.

The hull and topsides of the Argos platform were built by Samsung Heavy Industries in South Korea. The first oil production from the facility is expected in late 2021.

In an update last Wednesday 3 February 2021, BP said that the Mad Dog 2 project hit another significant milestone as the Argos FPU sailed away from South Korea on the Boskalis Vanguard and began the journey to the Kiewit Offshore Services fabrication yard in Ingleside, Texas. 

According to BP, more than 15 million hours of work have gone into fabricating the Argos FPU at the Samsung Heavy Industries shipyard.

The FPU weighs 60,000 tons and it will travel 15,000 miles to Texas over the course of over 60 days.

While at Kiewit, Argos will undergo final preparatory work and regulatory inspections prior to heading 380 miles offshore to its ultimate home, BP added.

The second Mad Dog platform will be moored approximately six miles to the southwest of the existing Mad Dog platform, which is located in 4,500 feet of water about 190 miles south of New Orleans.

The semi-submersible FPU is expected to produce up to 140,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) through a subsea production system from up to 14 production wells and eight water injection wells.

The project will help extend the life of the super-giant Mad Dog oil field beyond 2050.