Chevron Moves Big Foot Platform After Damage

Chevron Corporation has advised that the Big Foot tension-leg platform (TLP) will be moved to sheltered waters from its location in the deepwater U.S. Gulf of Mexico following damage to subsea installation tendons.

The tendons were pre-installed in preparation for connection to the Big Foot TLP. Between Friday, May 29 and Sunday, May 31, 2015, several tendons lost buoyancy.

The Big Foot TLP was not connected to any subsea wells or tendons at the time of the incident and was not damaged. There are no producing wells at Big Foot at this time. There were no injuries and there has been no release of any fluids to the environment.

Damage to the tendons, which are not connected to subsea wells and are used to attach the TLP to the seafloor, is being assessed. 

The $5 billion platform has a production capacity of 75,000 barrels of oil and 25 million cubic feet of natural gas per day, with living quarters for as many as 200 crewmen.

First production will not commence in late 2015 as planned, said Chevron in a statement. 

The Big Foot field was discovered in 2006 and has an estimated total recoverable resources limit of over 200 million barrels of oil equivalent which Chevron plans to extract over the course of 35 years. The water depth at the field is around 5,200 feet (1,500m).