In 1998, BP discovered the Mad Dog Field, its biggest in the Gulf of Mexico to date. Initial production began 7 years later, and now, the project has extended into the second development stage. Called the Mad Dog 2 project, this extension includes up to 14 production wells and eight water-injection wells. Production from Mad Dog 2 is expected late 2021.
BP teamed up with Subsea Integration Alliance on the Mad Dog 2 project to reduce costs, increase execution predictability, and improve technical and delivery risk management. This project marks the first large-scale integrated subsea development project for the Alliance.
Maria Cortadellas Eidesvik, BP Mad Dog 2 Project Director, Subsea Integration Alliance, and John Boyle, Mad Dog 2 Project Subsea Manager, BP, give us more insights into BP's strategic objectives and some of the ways that working with Subsea Integration Alliance as one team has contributed to the project's success.
John: Mad Dog 2 is a USD 9 billion project, which will enable full-field development of BP's existing Mad Dog reservoir. The downturn in oil prices forced the project to reassess the development plan. Through key initiatives, including contractor collaboration in late 2016, our project achieved its sanction target. Currently the project is almost 70% complete and remains on schedule and under budget. Our strategic objective is to safely deliver the project, then start up and stay up, where through enhanced oil recovery methods, we can ensure maximized production from the 5-billion-barrel Mad Dog Field.
Maria: The Mad Dog 2 project has been leading the way for the reinforced Subsea Integration Alliance that was launched in 2019 through learnings on how to efficiently work together. Creating trust, having open and honest conversations throughout the project execution, and understanding its partner is something we have learned over the last years working closely together, and that brought us to a successful installation of the production manifold piles in November 2019.
To BP, it's the close dialog we have together to find optimized solutions for efficient installation that creates the added value with minimal interfacing from their part.
John: From the outset, simple stuff like office colocation and agreed ways of working enabled us to get things done more efficiently. Coupled with the alliance framework, these enabled streamlining of interface management, avoiding man-marking while allowing us to focus resources on other priorities.
As we moved on, we've continued to see the benefits. More open and direct discussions helped identify equipment design optimization, such as optimal manifold foundations design, and as Maria mentioned, early installation opportunities, which have been wins for all.
John: "One Team" is one of our five BP core values. It's about recognizing we can accomplish more by working together. For Mad Dog 2, we wanted to extend this to include our contractor group. Our subsea contract strategy was set before subsea production systems and installation alliances had formed.
After independently selecting OneSubsea and Subsea 7 for their respective scopes, it was clear additional benefits could be achieved by adopting their joint alliance offer. We gained confidence that offer was right for us after seeing how the two companies showed up as one. Actions do speak louder than words, and it was those actions that gave us confidence Subsea Integration Alliance would support our "One Team" objective.
John: We've identified space where we, as the operator, need to step back and give the alliance flexibility to propose their solutions, while at the same time, we've learned we need to support key decision making, particularly those involving critical design interface. Practice really does make perfect, and there have been many learnings. We'll continue to jointly capture these through project completion, making sure these are part of what we carry forward into our future projects.
Maria: First oil is expected by late 2021. We still have a huge amount to do between now and then. For subsea, we've already commenced our offshore installation operations. We'll continue with this over the coming months, looking to build out as much of the subsea infrastructure ahead of the floating production unit (FPU) arrival in the Gulf of Mexico. Commencing early 2021, we'll move to our post-FPU critical-path offshore installations operations before handing over to BP to commence system commissioning and startup.
John: Maria has described where we are. I'd add we believe "current performance equals future business." We're already looking at the next phase of our Mad Dog area developments. This is an exciting prospect for all. For now, though, we still need to finish Mad Dog 2 and finish strong. The expectation is safe execution. Nothing matters more than that.
Subsea Integration Alliance is a nonincorporated strategic global alliance between Subsea 7 and OneSubsea, the subsea technologies, production and processing systems division of Schlumberger, bringing together field development planning, project delivery, and total lifecycle solutions under an extensive technology and services portfolio. As one team, Subsea Integration Alliance amplifies subsea performance by helping customers to select, design, deliver, and operate the smartest subsea projects. This eliminates costly revisions, avoids delays, and reduces risk across the life of field.
For more information, visit subseaintegrationalliance.com.