First production from Hummer development late due to bad weather

First production from the Castex Energy-operated Hummer field development in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico has been delayed due to recent harsh weather conditions in the region.

Petsec Energy, an independent oil and gas exploration and production company and Castex’s partner in the project, said on Tuesday that the previous guidance for first production from Hummer was set for late third quarter 2017/early October 2017.

As a result of recent weather events in the Gulf of Mexico, namely Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma, the completion of the modifications to the four pile deck have been delayed. Another consequence of extreme weather in the Gulf were related equipment delays.

The estimated date to complete construction and load out of a four pile deck, currently being modified to accommodate the extent of the designed facilities and future expansion, is now mid-October. This, according to Petsec, will move first production guidance for the Hummer project to mid or late November.

To remind, the Hummer oil and gas field extends over Main Pass Blocks 270,273, and 274 offshore Louisiana, USA.

The Hummer project discovery well, Main Pass 270 #3 BP 1, is located in U.S. federal waters some 50 miles southeast of Venice, Louisiana. The water depth at the location is approximately 215 feet. The well was drilled, logged and temporarily suspended during mid-late 2015.

A platform jacket was installed over the well, and the well was completed and tested in late 2016. Test rates recorded over the last three hours of the test period averaged 19.88 MMcfpd and 396 bopd on a 16/64-inch choke with a flowing well head pressure of 9,753 psi. The rates continued to increase over the final flow period.

Following the production test, the well was suspended pending installation of the deck, production facilities, and pipelines.

In January 2017, a turnkey contract was awarded for the design, engineering, modification, and fabrication of production facilities, and installation of the platform deck onto the already installed jacket for the Hummer Main Pass Block 270 “B” production platform and for the planning, installation and hook-up of the pipelines connecting the platform to gas and oil sales pipelines.