Dear Capt. Paul:
Do you have the GPS coordinates for the deep-water rigs called Oregano and Serrano? I know they are located in Garden Banks within a 20-mile radius south of the Auger.
Thanks for your help!
Doug
Capt. Paul’s response:
It is my understanding that the Serrano and Oregano wells are locations that are no longer visible, as they are now only underwater bore holes with a pipeline connecting them back to the Shell Auger platform.The flowline installed for the Gulf of Mexico project is a 6-inch-by-10-inch pipe-in-pipe running about 6 miles and 7.5 miles from the Serrano and Oregano fields, respectively, to the Auger tension-leg platform.
The Auger platform is at or about N27 32.754 x W92 26.592 using NAD 27 datum.
According to Shell Oil, “…Shell Exploration & Production (SEPCo) announced its third oil and gas discovery in the deep-water Auger Basin of the Gulf of Mexico. The Oregano Prospect, located at Garden Banks Block 559 in a water depth of 3,393 feet, was drilled to a measured depth of 19,500 feet and encountered commercial quantities of hydrocarbons.”
Shell owns 100 percent of the Oregano Prospect, which is located approximately eight miles south of its Auger tension-leg platform and four miles northeast of the Shell Macaroni subsea development. This was the first well drilled at Oregano.
Additional Shell discoveries in the area include Cardamom, Serrano and Habanero.
In August 2000, Shell announced plans to develop Oregano utilizing a subsea system tied back eight miles to the Auger TLP on Garden Banks block 426.
Production began in October 2001 at a rate of 11,000 barrels per day pf oil through a subsea production system. Development costs are approximately $120 million, excluding lease costs. Peak production rates are expected to reach 20,000 barrels per day.
I hope this helps!
Dear Capt. Paul:
Do you know of a database that lists the GPS coordinates for offshore oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico?
Thanks,
Ben
Capt. Paul’s Response:
I have found that the most up-to-date authority on the oil/gas production sites in the Gulf of Mexico is kept by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Mineral Management Services–Gulf of Mexico Division. You can go to their web site at http://www.gomr.mms.gov/homepg/pubinfo/piindex.html.To view the documents on the platform sites, select the option for “Products and Free Data” button, then the “Reports in PFD” button, then the “Platforms Structures in the Gulf” button and then the respective button for the 3060 PFD documents.
You can go directly to that site by typing the following into the address bar of your browser: http://www.gomr.mms.gov/homepg/pubinfo/repcat/platform/pdf/3060.pdf
For an abbreviated form of the info, go to their fast facts page of their website at http://www.gomr.mms.gov/homepg/fastfacts/platform/master.asp
This site is updated weekly, or sooner if needed. It provides all of the leased blocks and the platforms in the blocks. Please note that the positions furnished by the MMS are determined using NAD 27 Datum and not the more common marine datum of WGS 84.
Then get a 2004 version of NOAA chart 1116A, Leased Blocks Mississippi River to Galveston to see the blocks and the rigs in those blocks. That chart shows some of the rigs, but it is not the most up-to-date locations. For that, go to the MMS site. The chart will give you the leased areas and the block numbers in those areas. It will be help in finding the rig you will be looking for.
