Construction launched for LLOG’s deepwater project in Gulf of Mexico

After assembling a group of contractors, LLOG, a U.S.-based privately-owned exploration and production company, has started the works related to the refurbishment of an old production platform for reuse on its new deepwater project in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

As reported by Offshore Energy in May 2022, LLOG decided to reuse what was previously the world’s deepest floating production platform for the development of its Leon and Castile discoveries in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. For that purpose, LLOG bought the old Independence Hub platform from Genesis Energy with plans to refurbish it and turn it into a floating production unit (FPU) named Salamanca.

In the following months, the company awarded several contracts to refurbish the platform to have a capacity of 60,000 barrels of oil per day and 40 million cubic feet of natural gas per day. By modifying a previously-built production unit, the time and cost to refurbish the unit are greatly reduced compared with the construction of a new facility.

One of the contractors, the U.S.-based Milestone Project Services, informed via its social media channels late last week that the Salamanca Production Facility project had had a lift-off, sharing its excitement about the beginning of its project with LLOG Exploration.

Namely, under a contract announced in May 2022, the Milestone Construction Management Group is performing all topsides and hull construction management and the Inspection Group is performing all equipment packages/skids for the project.

Following this update by Milestone PS, Offshore Energy has reached out to LLOG, seeking to confirm the beginning of the project. A spokesperson for LLOG confirmed for us that “the Salamanca work has begun and that we are still on track for first production mid-2025.”

The Salamanca FPU will be created by refurbishing the old and decommissioned Independence Hub deep-draft semi-submersible production platform, which was designed by SBM Offshore.

The hull, topside truss, cranes, and lifeboats will be reused with minor modifications while all other topside equipment, including piping, instrumentation, and electrical systems, will be new and fit for purpose.

The FPU will serve as the collection point for production from the joint development of the Leon discovery located in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico in Keathley Canyon (KC) blocks 642, 643, 686, and 687 as well as from the Castile discovery in KC 736. LLOG will operate the development and its partners include Repsol and Beacon Offshore Energy. The facility will be located on KC 689 in approximately 6,400 feet of water.

LLOG previously said that all of the major topside repurposing and modifications would be done in the United States.

Following the contract award to Milestone PS in May, LLOG then in July awarded a contract to Exterran Water Solutions to deploy its patented Revolift Compact Flotation Unit (CFU) and Microbubble Flotation (MBF) technology to support the FPU for the Salamanca project.

At the beginning of August, another contract was awarded and this one went to Keppel AmFELS, a U.S. subsidiary of Singapore’s Keppel. Keppel AmFELS’ scope of work on the production facility includes demolition, hull modifications, and upgrades to key systems.

Later in August, two other contracts were awarded. The first one was secured by Houston-based Audubon Engineering with a scope of work that includes detailed design services, procurement, vendor equipment management, construction, pre-commissioning, and offshore commissioning support.

Later that month, Gate Energy was also hired to work on the project with a scope of work that includes pre-commissioning and commissioning planning and execution at both the onshore fabrication site and offshore. The company’s commissioning team will also support initial startup activities offshore.

The Salamanca FPU is expected to be completed in 2Q 2024 and the first oil from the project is on track for mid-2025.

It is also worth reminding that, about three months ago, LLOG started production from another deepwater Gulf of Mexico development, the Spruance field, located in Ewing Bank (EW) Blocks 877 and 921. This milestone came less than three years after the initial exploratory discovery well was drilled.