Cochon Properties Decommissions Entire Offshore Production Field

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Cochon Properties LLC (Houston, Texas) plans to decommission its West Delta 44-D offshore production platform, as well as several platforms in the West Delta 30 offshore production field, by the end of the year. Oil and natural gas wells in the field, which is located in the Louisiana Gulf, will be plugged, abandoned and removed due to depleted reserves.

While the number of closing structures is rapidly growing, several companies have been closing the doors of aging platforms and placing focus on deeper waters and maximizing existing platforms that provide greater financial gain.

Since the mid-1950s, the West Delta 30 field has played a notable role in offshore crude and natural gas production. Located in the Gulf of Mexico's Block 45 of Lease 138, the 44-D platform and WD-45 platforms have produced a combined estimate of 71.9 million stock tank barrels (MMSTB) of oil and close to 50 billion cubic feet (BCF) of natural gas. Acquired from Nexen Petroleum USA Incorporated (Houston, Texas), a subsidiary of CNOOC Limited (NYSE:CEO) (Beijing, China) in 2013, the elder platforms that are expected to close are WD-44-D, WD-45-A, WD-45-B, WD-45-CQ, WD-45-D, WD-45-G, WD-45-H and WD-45-7.

Cochon is one of many companies moving forward with platform removals this year. Others include Tammany Oil & Gas LLC (Houston, Texas), which is preparing for two structure removals in the High Island area; Petsec Energy Limited (ASX:PSA) (Sydney, Australia), which is closing two structures in the Main Pass area; and Tana Exploration LLC (Spring, Texas), which is decommissioning a platform in Main Pass. As exploration companies wade through this wave of fluctuating gas and crude prices, some of them are setting their sights on more deepwater exploration with a larger hydrocarbon recovery yield, or selling their offshore assets altogether.

Cochon started to plug and abandon non-producing wells in February, while applications for structure removals are currently in the works. Along with the removals, Cochon will remove more than 4,800 horsepower of compression from the field and attempt to salvage any production and compression equipment in hopes to offset decommission costs, and invest in existing platforms to fully maximize production.

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