Twenty-five years ago the Berlin Wall fell, more than 1 million demonstrated for democracy in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square and two men named Bush and Gorbachev became presidents of their respective superpower countries. Yes, the political landscape changed a bit in 1989. It was a very busy year globally. For those local to the Gulf of Mexico (GoM), it was the news that Royal Dutch Shell had plans to install the world’s first deepwater tension-leg platform at its Auger Field that made ample waves. Those waves ripple to this day as 2014 was a very busy year for the national oil company in the GoM.
Last month Shell announced the startup of its Cardamom development. It is the second major deepwater facility the company has brought online this year, following the startup of Mars B in February.
“Cardamom is a high-value addition to Shell's production at the Auger platform and is another example of our excellence in deepwater project delivery,” Marvin Odum, Shell Upstream Americas director, said in a Shell-issued press release. “The work to extend the production life of our first deepwater tension-leg platform is impressive and involved advanced exploration and development technology.”
Located 362 km (225 miles) southwest of New Orleans, the Cardamom Field is in water more than 820 m (2,700 ft) deep. Oil from the 100% Shell-owned Cardamom subsea development is piped through the Auger platform, the very same one that was announced in 1989. The Cardamom development includes five subsea wells and—when at full production of 50,000 boe/d—will increase Auger's total production capacity to 130,000 boe/d.
Cardamom is the Auger platform’s seventh subsea development since production first started in 1994. Over the years modifications were made to the platform to make the subsea developments possible. The completed subsea system includes five well-expandable manifolds, a dual 18-in. flowline and eight well umbilicals.
The Cardamom reservoir sat undetected by conventional seismic surveys until 2010 when the company used advanced seismic technology to find it. The reservoir sits beneath thick layers of salt in rock more than 6 km (3.7 miles) below the seafloor. An exploratory well was drilled to 9,449 m (31,000 ft) measured depth into the formation and logged 67 m (220 ft) net of oil-bearing Miocene-aged sands, the company’s website noted.
The project was green-lighted by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement in February 2011 after the drilling moratorium was lifted in the GoM. It was the first “blue-water well” to receive approval, according to the company.
By using advanced seismic processing on maturing fields to help identify the Cardamom reservoir of Auger and the Boreas and Deimos reservoirs of Mars B, Shell was able to extend the shelf life of its deepwater assets by decades. The ocean is as wide as it is deep, and it houses many secrets, but with industry’s ever-growing ability to see with “new eyes,” those secrets won’t remain buried much longer.