Anchor is a deepwater oil and gas field being developed in the Green Canyon area of the Gulf of Mexico, US. The offshore field is jointly owned by operator Chevron (62.86%) and Total (37.14%).
The project partners announced the final investment decision (FID) for the Anchor field development in December 2019, while the key contracts were awarded in the first half of 2020.
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Scheduled to come on stream in 2024, the Anchor field is expected to produce up to 5,000 barrels of crude oil per day (bopd) and 28 million cubic feet (mcf) of natural gas a day.
The Anchor field development is estimated to involve a total investment of £4.27bn ($5.7bn).
Anchor offshore field location
The Anchor field oil and gas field is located in the Green Canyon block 807 in 1,579m-deep waters in the Gulf of Mexico, approximately 225km off the coast of Louisiana, US.
Discovery and appraisal
Chevron discovered the Anchor field by drilling the Anchor-2 discovery well in late 2014. The Anchor-2 well was drilled to a depth of 33,750ft and it encountered 690ft of net oil pay.
Appraisal drilling at the Anchor prospect was started by drilling a sidetrack from the Anchor-2 discovery well in June 2015. The sidetrack uncounted additional 694ft of net oil pay.
The offshore field was further appraised by the Anchor-3 appraisal well in 2016 to confirm the reservoir productivity.
Reservoir details
The field’s reservoir comprises the Lower Tertiary Wilcox Formation. The total recoverable reserves at the Anchor field are estimated to be more than 440 million barrels of the oil equivalent (Mboe).
Anchor field development plan
The Anchor oil and gas field is planned to be in multiple stages. The offshore field development in stage one will involve seven subsea wells tied back to a semi-submersible floating production unit (FPU).
The FPU will be capable of producing 75,000 barrels of crude oil and 28 million cubic feet (mcf) of gas a day.
Anchor will be an ultra-high pressure field development using the high-pressure technologies from Total for handling 20,000 pounds per square inch (psi) pressure.
The subsea system for the Anchor field development will include vertical mono bore production trees, production manifolds, ultra-high pressure multiphase flowmeters and integrated manifold multiphase pump station, apart from the subsea controls and distribution system.
The other components of the project will include umbilicals, risers, production flowlines, flying lead jumpers, as well as export pipelines.
Contractors involved
Subsea 7 received the project management as well as the engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) contract for the subsea umbilicals, risers, and flowlines (SURF) for the Anchor field development in April 2020.
Aker Solutions received an order to design, manufacture and supply 20,000psi dynamic control umbilicals and power umbilicals for a total length of 24km for the Anchor field in March 2020.
Wood Group received the contract for the preliminary front-end engineering and design (Pre-FEED) as well as FEED services for the FPU topsides and the subsea system for the Anchor field development in February 2020.
South Korea-based Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) was selected to build the hull of the Anchor field FPU in December 2019.
OneSubsea, a subsidiary of Schlumberger, was contracted to supply an integrated subsea production and multiphase boosting system for the Anchor field development in December 2019.
Pacific Drilling provided the drilling vessel for the discovery well drilling while Transocean supplied the drilling vessel for the appraisal well drilling at the Anchor field.
