The Mad Dog Phase 2 project has commenced oil production from the Argos offshore facility in the deepwater US Gulf of Mexico.
With a gross production capacity of up to 140,000 barrels of crude oil per day, Mad Dog Phase 2 will systematically ramp up production through 2023. The new Argos platform is a semi-submersible floating production unit located approximately 10 km southwest of the existing Mad Dog platform.
Argos is bp’s fifth platform in the Gulf of Mexico and the first new bp-operated production facility in the region since 2008. It will increase bp’s gross operated production capacity in the Gulf of Mexico by an estimated 20 per cent.
Argos is the centrepiece of bp’s Mad Dog Phase 2 project, which extends the life of the super-giant oil field discovered in 1998. It is one of nine high-margin major projects that bp plans start up by the end of 2025 globally.
Starlee Sykes, bp senior vice president, Gulf of Mexico and Canada, said starting up the Argos platform is a major milestone for bp and a proud moment for the team who delivered the project with an impeccable safety record.
“Our Gulf of Mexico business has an important role to play in delivering the energy the world needs. I am grateful to everyone who worked on Argos over the years – from discovery to start-up.”
Operating in 1.3 kilometres of water about 300 kilometres south of New Orleans, Argos will support 250 permanent jobs. Standing 27 storeys tall, the platform has a deck the length and width of an American football field and weighs more than 60,000 tonnes.
Ewan Drummond, senior vice president, projects, production and operations, said: “Projects like Argos don’t just happen. They take years of careful planning, execution excellence, and brilliant teamwork.”
Argos is bp’s most digitally advanced platform operating in the Gulf of Mexico, featuring bp’s proprietary LoSal® Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) and Dynamic Digital Twin technologies. Argos has a waterflood injection capacity of more than 140,000 barrels of low-salinity water per day to help increase oil recovery from the Mad Dog field.
The platform also has a Dynamic Digital Twin, a bp patent-pending software that links complex data from Argos to 3D digital models of those systems, allowing remote operators wearing Virtual Reality headsets to access data in real time to improve decision-making, efficiency and safety.
bp is the operator with 60.5% working interest. Co-owners include Woodside Energy (23.9%) and Union Oil Company of California, an affiliate of Chevron U.S.A. Inc. (15.6%).
