Appaloosa (MC503) - ENI

Appaloosa (MC503) - ENI Oil and Gas Asset Profile

Location

The Appaloosa field is located in the Gulf of Mexico, approximately 60 miles offshore the Louisiana coast, southeast of New Orleans. It is situated at a water depth of about 2,500 feet (approximately 760 meters).

Blocks and Ownership

The Appaloosa field spans across blocks MC 459, 460, and portions of blocks MC 503 and 504 in the Mississippi Canyon area. ENI holds a 100% working interest in the field.

Development History

• Drilling operations at the Appaloosa field began in December 2005, with ENI drilling and testing five exploratory wells.
• In 2007, two additional wells were drilled using the Transocean-owned Deepwater Millennium drillship, though no discoveries were made from these wells.
• In May 2008, the MC459 #1 well, drilled using the Transocean-owned GSF Celtic Sea semi-submersible rig, encountered oil and gas.
• The development plan for the Appaloosa field, including the drilling of seven wells, was approved in December 2008.
• ENI leased the Transocean Amirante semi-submersible drilling rig in May 2009 for three years to drill development wells at the field.

Production

• Oil production from the Appaloosa field commenced on June 21, 2011.
• The field produces through a subsea development tied back to the Corral platform via a 20-mile long flowline.
• The initial production rate was approximately 7,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd).

Corral Platform

• The Corral platform, previously known as the Crystal platform, is a conventional jacket structure located in Mississippi Canyon block 365 at a depth of 620 feet.
• The platform was modified and expanded to increase its liquids production capacity to 12,000 barrels per day (bpd) to handle the output from the Appaloosa field.
• The platform also processes output from ENI’s Longhorn field and has an aggregate processing capacity of 46,600 boepd.

Contracts and Infrastructure

• In November 2009, ENI awarded a contract to Technip for the subsea tie-back of the Appaloosa field’s wells to the Corral platform. This included the manufacture and installation of a 32km production flowline and a riser.
• Technip used its deepwater pipelay vessel Deep Blue and other vessels like the Deep Pioneer and Skandi Achiever for the installation of subsea equipment.

Impact and Operations

• The start of production at the Appaloosa field marked a significant addition to ENI’s operations in the Mississippi Canyon area.
• The field was expected to have a production life of approximately 15 years.
• The project was delayed due to a six-month drilling ban imposed by the US Government following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in April 2010.

ENI's Presence in the US

• ENI operates 333 blocks in the Gulf of Mexico and has additional interests in 411 leases in the Barnett gas shales onshore Texas and 140 leases in Alaska.
• ENI’s total daily net production in the US exceeds 100,000 barrels of oil equivalent, with 60% of this production being operated by ENI.