Offshore Platforms & Services

Offshore platforms are critical components of the offshore infrastructure in the Gulf of Mexico, supporting drilling and production operations, and playing a key role in the overall development of offshore oil and natural gas reserves. Platforms are used to:

• Connect the offshore pipeline grid;
• Provide an efficient means to perform pipeline maintenance;
• Locate compression, separation, production handling and other facilities; and,
• Conduct drilling operations during the initial development phase of an oil and natural gas property.

We have interests in six multi-purpose offshore platforms in the Gulf of Mexico that are specifically designed to be used as hubs and production handling and pipeline maintenance facilities. Through these facilities we are able to provide a variety of midstream services to increase deliverability for and attract new volumes into our offshore pipeline systems.

Our platforms generally earn revenues through demand and commodity charges. A demand charge is a fixed fee that is charged to a customer contracted to use our platform services regardless of the volume the customer delivers to the platform. A commodity charge is typically a fixed fee per Mcf of natural gas or barrel of crude oil multiplied by the volume delivered to the platform. Contracts for platform services often include both demand and commodity charges, but demand charges generally expire after a fixed period of time.

In November 2004 we announced the Independence Hub and Trail project, which includes a deepwater platform that is located in Mississippi Canyon Block 920 and processes crude oil and natural gas gathered from production fields in the Atwater Valley, Desoto Canyon, Lloyd Ridge and Mississippi Canyon areas of the Gulf of Mexico. We designed, constructed, and own the 105-foot deep-draft, semi-submersible platform with Cal-Dive International, who has a 20% interest in the project. The platform was successfully installed in March 2007 and is operated by Anadarko. First production from the fields served by Independence Hub platform began in July 2007.