Three more tendons planned to be used to keep a Chevron Gulf of Mexico oil platform connected to the seabed have sunk, Reuters has reported.
This brings a number of sunken tendons at the Big Foot field location to nine, after the company last week announced six tendons had sunk , delaying the start up of production at the field. Chevron then also said it would move the Big Foot tension-leg platform to a shelter location, adding that production would not start late this year.
The Big Foot field is located approximately 360 kilometers south of New Orleans, Louisiana, in water depths of 1,600 meters.
According to Reuters , the company has now deployed Remotely Operated Vehicles and several vessels to the site to assess the damage.
Chevron sanctioned the $4 billion project in December 2010. The Big Foot field is estimated to contain total recoverable resources in excess of 200 million oil-equivalent barrels. According to the original plan, the field should have started producing in 2014 , but this will now probably stretch to 2016.
Offshore Energy Today Staff