King’s Quay FPS Facility

King’s Quay is a semi-submersible floating production system (FPS) to be located in Green Canyon Block 433 in the US Gulf of Mexico.

The facility will be jointly owned by Murphy Oil Corporation (50%) and Ridgewood Energy Corporation (50%) and operated by Murphy Oil.

In January 2020, Murphy Oil entered a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with energy investment firm Arc Light Capital Partners to sell its 50% ownership in the facility.

The first oil is expected in the first half of 2022.

Details of the King’s Quay development

King’s Quay is a deepwater FPS facility, situated approximately 281.6km south of New Orleans in the Green Canyon region.

The facility will be tied back to the seven subset wells in the Samurai, Thales, and Mormon developments. The subsea equipment to be installed under the development will include pipeline end terminations and manifolds (PLETs/PLEMs), umbilicals, distribution hardware, export flowlines, jumpers, and mooring system for the FPS.

The King’s Quay facility will be able to process up to 80,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) with a peak production capacity of 100,000bopd. It can also process up to 100 million cubic feet of gas per day (Mmscf/d) and will be expanded to process 240MMscf/d of gas from the developments.

The facility will have the potential to host additional subset infrastructures, in line with the additional exploration and development of future prospects in the Green Canyon area.

The hydrocarbons from the facility will be directed into the Shenzi lateral pipeline, which will deliver the crude oil to the Cameron Highway or Poseidon crude oil system for onshore delivery while the associated gas will be gathered on the Anaconda system for delivery to Nautilus gas system to reach onshore.

King’s Quay FPS design

The facility is being designed using Exmar Offshore’s OPTI®-11000 design, similar to the Delta House FPS based on Audubon’s ‘one-size-fits-most’ standard design approach. It will house two-level topsides deck with the payload capacity of 10,000t. It will feature unique five-sided columns attached to a ring-pontoon, facilitating enhanced motion and reduced steel weight. The platform can survive adverse storm conditions.

The facility will be equipped with lifesaving equipment, accommodations, marine and utility systems, crane foundations, and other accessories.

Details of Samurai, Khaleesi, and Mormont developments

The Mormont and Khaleesi developments lie in Green Canyon blocks 345, 389, 390, 434 and 478, while the Samurai development is situated in Green Canyon Block 432.

LLOG Exploration drilled the Khaleesi and Mormont discoveries in a water depth of approximately 3,900ft, up to the total depth of 30,625ft in 2017. Both the discoveries were delineated by two wells and a sidetrack and found several oil-bearing reserves of Miocene era.

Anadarko drilled the Samurai discovery to a total depth of more than 28,500ft in the Miocene formation.

Contractors involved

Subsea 7 received an engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning (EPCIC) contract for all the subsea infrastructures in March 2020.

Genesis Energy will be responsible for providing downstream transportation services for all the produced hydrocarbons in the fields through the FPS facility.

Gate Energy will provide FPS facility commissioning, onshore and offshore commissioning or ready-for-startup services.

Audubon Companies secured a contract to provide detailed engineering and design services as well as procurement and construction support for the King’s Quay FPS facility, in October 2019.

In September 2019, COSCO Shipping Specialized Carriers partnered with Hyundai Heavy Industries to transport Murphy’s King Quay FPS unit, which will be fabricated in Ulsan, South Korea. It will be transported offshore by Xiang He Kou, a 50,000dwt semi-submersible carrier, in 2021.