bp’s Argos platform arrives in Texas

Argos arrival

HOUSTON – Argos, the centerpiece of bp’s $9 billion Mad Dog 2 project, has arrived in the US after safely completing its 16,000-mile journey from South Korea to the Kiewit Offshore Services fabrication yard in Ingleside, Texas.

The arrival of the new floating production unit is a major milestone towards the completion of Mad Dog 2. Once online, Argos will significantly strengthen bp’s high-margin oil and gas business in the Gulf of Mexico. It’s also expected to support about 800 jobs during the work in Ingleside and about 250 jobs once in operation.

Argos, a semi-submersible, floating production platform, will be the company’s fifth operated platform in the Gulf of Mexico – and the first new platform since Thunder Horse began production in 2008. It will provide bp with growth potential and an estimated 25% increase in production capacity in the region.

This underpins a key pillar of bp’s strategy: a resilient and focused hydrocarbons business that will be a key source of earnings to drive bp’s transformation into an integrated energy company.

Gordon Birrell, executive vice president, production & operations: "This is a major step towards the delivery of one of bp's most significant projects in recent years. When Argos is fully in place, Mad Dog 2 will be set to deliver resilient barrels from one of the most prolific basins in the world, strengthening our position in the Gulf for years to come."

Construction of the 60,000-ton platform – with a deck the length and width of an American football field – began in March 2018 at Samsung Heavy Industries shipyard in South Korea. It was transported to Texas over the past 60+ days onboard the Boskalis BOKA Vanguard heavy transport vessel. While in Texas, Argos will undergo final preparatory work and regulatory inspections before heading offshore.

Starlee Sykes

Starlee Sykes, senior vice president, Gulf of Mexico & Canada: “This project illustrates the innovative and collaborative spirit of bp at its best. Our team consistently puts safety at the heart of everything we do, and the work on Argos has been no exception – notably throughout a global pandemic. We continue to successfully deliver world class projects, and I could not be prouder of everyone who has played a part in achieving this exciting milestone.”

Following work at Kiewit, Argos will be towed to its offshore home in the Gulf of Mexico, and will be installed about six miles from the original Mad Dog spar, about 190 miles south of New Orleans, where it will operate in 4,500 feet of water.

At peak, the facility will produce up to 140,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) through a subsea production system from 14 production wells. It will be connected to and export oil and gas through nearby existing pipeline infrastructure. Reserves recovery will be boosted by injecting 140,000 barrels a day of processed seawater into the reservoir through water injection wells, adopting bp’s proprietary LoSal ® Enhanced Oil Recovery technology.

Start-up of Mad Dog 2 is projected for the second quarter of 2022.

Chris Ruthven

About bp

bp’s ambition is to become a net zero company by 2050 or sooner, and to help the world get to net zero. bp is America’s largest energy investor since 2005, investing more than $125 billion in the economy and supporting more than 125,000 additional jobs through its business activities. For more information on bp in the US, visit www.bp.com/us.

Notes to editors

bp discovered the Mad Dog field in 1998 and began production there with its first platform in 2005. Continued appraisal drilling in the field has more than doubled the resource estimate of the Mad Dog field to more than 5 billion barrels of oil equivalent, requiring the need for another platform at the super-giant field.

The existing Mad Dog platform is located in 4,500 feet of water about 190 miles south of New Orleans. It has the capacity to produce up to 100,000 gross barrels of oil and 60 million gross cubic feet of natural gas per day.

bp (operator, with 60.5 percent working interest) and co-owners BHP (23.9 percent) and Union Oil Company of California, an affiliate of Chevron Corp. (15.6 percent).