Byron installs oil & gas pipelines for Gulf of Mexico development

Oil and gas operator Byron Energy has completed the installation of oil and gas export pipelines for its South Marsh Island 71 (SM 71) development in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. 

Byron, as the operator, has 50% working interest while Otto Energy as its partner has the other 50% interest in the SM 71 development.

According to Otto’s statement on Monday, Byron completed the installation of the 500 foot 4-inch oil and 7,000 foot 6-inch gas pipelines on Saturday, October 21. Each pipeline has been laid and buried to within tie-in distance to the SM 71 F platform location and their respective sales lines.

Final tie-in work at the platform end and sales lines will be made by dive crews soon after the jacket and decks are installed at the platform location in SM 71. All project pipeline work will be performed by Chet Morrison Construction from Houma, Louisiana.

Additionally, Otto said, the timeline for load-out and installation of the Byron operated SM 71 F production platform has been set. Construction work in Galveston, Texas is proceeding to schedule and the onshore construction portion of the project is nearly complete. The three-day process of loading the jacket, pilings and decks on to material barges is currently slated to begin on October 30.

After load-out, work to tie-down all equipment is expected to take approximately six days. By November 7, 2017, the barges should be ready for the two day transit to SM 71. Once on location at SM 71, the Tetra Hedron derrick barge will start operations to set the jacket and drive the pilings to secure it to the sea floor.

After that step, Otto stated, the deck will be lifted into position and welded in place on top of the jacket. In total, installation operations are expected to take six days offshore. The sequence of events leading to installation is subject to weather conditions and will occur only when the risk of weather is minimized to ensure safe working conditions and to maintain cost control by reducing the potential for weather related delays. Production is expected to start in January 2018.

Otto’s Managing Director, Matthew Allen, said: “Otto is very pleased with progress being made by the Operator at SM 71, with a significant portion of the project schedule now completed and first production only a matter of months away. The project is entering a critical phase over the coming months and when drilling commences in late November the joint venture will also be testing a very significant exploration target in the SM 71 F2 well at the B65 sand interval. Otto looks forward to the successful completion of the SM 71 development in the coming months and first production and cash flow being generated in early 2018.”