First Oil Flows at Caesar/Tonga Field in U.S. GoM

Anadarko Petroleum today announced the first production at the Caesar/Tonga development in the Green Canyon area of the deepwater Gulf of Mexico.

Production from Caesar/Tonga, with an estimated resource base of 200 to 400 million barrels of oil equivalent (BOE), is expected to ramp up to approximately 45,000 BOE per day from the first three subsea wells. A fourth development well is expected to be drilled and completed later this year, as part of the planned Phase I development.

“We are excited to announce we began producing high-quality oil from the Caesar/Tonga development on March 7, 2012; an outstanding accomplishment by our project team consisting of co-owners, our employees and contractors,” said President and Chief Operating Officer Al Walker.

“Our ability to safely achieve cost savings of almost $1 billion by leveraging our existing, operated infrastructure in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico continues to demonstrate the value of our hub-and-spoke approach to exploration and development.

“Caesar/Tonga is yet another capital-efficient, deepwater project in our Gulf of Mexico portfolio that we have successfully developed. This development and the Gulf of Mexico are an important part of Anadarko’s liquids growth and our domestically produced energy.”

In addition to utilizing Anadarko’s 100-percent operated Constitution spar floating production facility, the Caesar/Tonga development also included the first application of steel lazy wave riser technology in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Constitution spar is located in Green Canyon Block 680 in about 5,000 feet of water. It began production in 2006 with a capacity of 70,000 barrels of oil per day and 200 million cubic feet of natural gas per day. In 2009, Anadarko began making modifications to the topsides of the Constitution facility to accommodate production from the Caesar/Tonga area, approximately 10 miles to the east.

Anadarko operates the Caesar/Tonga development with a 33.75-percent working interest. Co-owners in the development are Statoil Gulf of Mexico LLC (23.55-percent working interest), Shell Offshore Inc. (22.45-percent working interest) and Chevron U.S.A. Inc. (20.25-percent working interest).

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Source: Anadarko, March 13, 2012