The King's Quay Project – A Best Practice Model to Deliver Major Offshore Projects Ahead of Schedule and Under Budget

Abstract

The King's Quay facility was fabricated and commissioned in South Korea and installed in the Gulf of Mexico to receive production from the Khaleesi, Mormont and Samurai fields. A mixture of project and operations personnel were tasked with executing deliverables to ensure a successful progression from engineering, construction, commissioning and operations to ultimately achieve first oil in April 2022. The facility design was based on an existing design already under operation, with modifications limited to improving safety and reliability and reducing emissions. The subsea umbilicals, risers and flowlines (SURF) contract was awarded to include mooring and installation work, minimizing interfaces and reducing risk exposure to the operator. Technical functions fell under one project delivery team, ensuring decisions were made based on the overall benefit to the project rather than individual disciplines. Operations were involved early on during the construction phase in South Korea, and took ownership to integrate improvements throughout the project lifecycle. Subsurface design allowed for a shift from single zone to commingled production to maximize net present value (NPV) and reduce well design complexity. SURF components were standardized as much as possible across all three fields to allow for flexibility during the installation phase. Between the on-site construction team and a strong cohort of local inspectors, the facility left the shipyard on schedule and 97% complete, with minimal carry-over work in the Gulf of Mexico, and over 3.5 million work hours without a lost time incident. With the project team relying on industry-standard designs and best practices, they were able to optimize cost, schedule and functionality based on fit-for-purpose equipment designs. The flexibility of installation allowed the minimizing of simultaneous operations (SIMOPS) between pipelay and drilling activities. In the event of SIMOPS, communication protocols were established and strictly followed, minimizing non-productive time. Murphy's King's Quay development achieved first oil in April 2022, less than three years after the project's final investment decision (FID). This paper will highlight the execution plan and lessons learned to maintain continuity through all phases of the project to deliver a facility and subsea infrastructure ahead of schedule while achieving 97% uptime, with production rates exceeding expectations within six months of start-up.