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The Marco Polo tension leg platform (TLP), Anadarko Petroleum Corp.''s first deepwater development project, is located in 4,300 feet of water on Green Canyon Block 608.  In 2003, the last two development wells were drilled, and the facilities are scheduled to be online in July 2004.  A floating production platform has been installed and will have the capacity to handle 120,000 b/d of oil and 400 MMcf/d of gas.  the deck was the largest single-lift deck installed offshore in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Marco Polo field is a deepwater Gulf of Mexico development in 4300 ft water depth located 150 miles offshore Louisiana in Green Canyon Block 608. Anadarko Petroleum Company is the operator with 100% interest. The field was developed with a dry tree TLP installed in January of 2004 as the world’s deepest tension leg platform.

The platform is owned by a partnership headed by GulfTerra (formerly El Paso Energy Partners) and leased to the operator Anadarko. GulfTerra furnished and installed the platform to Anadarko specifications. This approach reduced Anadarko’s capital cost and enabled GulfTerra to justify significant expansion of the El Paso pipeline system along with associated production facility infrastructure.

In addition to producing the Marco Polo field, the Marco Polo platform is also designed as a high-capacity regional hub. The hub facility is capable of accommodating multiple subsea tiebacks from area producers requiring processing and compression services with pipeline export.

The presentation will focus primarily on the platform engineering and construction. Process capacity was upsized during design to accommodate new area discoveries as potential tiebacks. The platform can process and export 120,000 BOPD and handle 400 MMscfd gas throughput.

The platform supports a completion/workover rig for servicing the platform dry tree wells. Facilities to accommodate future subsea tiebacks include twelve riser slots for incoming flowlines, together with independent production allocation separation and measurement. Supporting utilities include the largest process heating system in the Gulf of Mexico, with a rated capacity 168 million BTU’s per hour.

A major design constraint was the requirement to install the topsides as a single module lift within the capacity of Heerema’s Hermod SSCV. As a result, the topsides make extensive use of lightweight design technology, which also enhanced the project schedule and capital cost. The topsides were installed as a true single module lift weighing approximately 6300 tons.

The TLP hull and mooring system were engineered and furnished by Modec International under a lump sum contract. Hull fabrication was subcontracted to Samsung in Korea. Alliance Engineering of Houston was the topside engineering contractor responsible for engineering, design and procurement. Kiewit Offshore Services in Ingleside, Texas performed topsides fabrication. Heerema Marine Contractors was platform installation contractor. The project was sanctioned in November 2001, and the topsides were completed and ready for loadout in November 2003. Actual installatio

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