The rumor mill is at work and doing well. We can take dubious pride in the fact that, with the possible exception of the armed forces, rumor mongering is more pervasive in our industry than any others.

Over the past couple of weeks, friends and acquaintances, upon encountering me, have registered mild shock, done a double-take and stammered something like, "Oh...you're still around." Some have even expressed surprise when I answer the telephone, which I cannot understand at all, since if they think I've departed why are they calling me in the first place? Is it to leave one last, snide comment on my voicemail? Or chat up my wife?

I recently got an email from a close friend known for his brevity, if not for his diplomacy. It said, "Dick. I heard you died. Apparently not."

Apparently not indeed! So to clear the record, and to hold wishful-thinkers and potential heirs at bay, let me say in the immortal words of Mark Twain, "Rumors of my demise are greatly exaggerated." Full stop.

From time to time at Hart we reassign columns (ostensibly to see if our readers are awake) and this may have fueled the rumor mill. Next time we'll print a little disclaimer at the bottom saying, "Please don't call, write or send flowers, Dick is just goofing off."

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Particularly offshore, operators and consortia are pursuing aggressive and innovative production plans. Subsea tiebacks have proven extremely successful worldwide, but particularly so in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. And it makes sense. Prospects for growth in the number of elephant fields that can single-handedly support an ultradeepwater production facility are dim. Subsea tiebacks offer the opportunity to reach out for production from satellite fields whose cumulative production represents a robust economic engine that can produce healthy profits, as good, or better than the elephants.

Kerr-McGee calls it "Hub and spoke" development, and the company has used this scheme successfully, most recently at its Red Hawk gas production spar. Earlier, the Canyon Express project, linked BP's King's Peak, Marathon's Camden Hills and Total's Aconcagua ultradeepwater gas fields. Going a step further Canyon Express gas was piped to Canyon Station, a standard jacket platform located 65 miles (105 km) away in 300 ft (91.5 m) of water in Main Pass block 261 and operated by Williams Energy.

Following the Canyon Express model and just over the horizon is the giant Independence Hub deep draft semisubmersible production floater, scheduled to be moored in Mississippi Canyon 920 in 8,000 ft (2,440 m) of water. Operated by Anadarko, the hub will be built and owned by Enterprise Product Partners and will initially drain six fields. Thinking ahead, the owners have scaled the Independence semisubmersible to be able accept production from an additional 10 fields. Nippling-up to the hub will be Atlas and Atlas NW fields, 22 miles (35.4 km) to the southeast located in 9,000 ft (2,745 m) of water, and Jubilee field located about 27 miles (43.4 km) to the south in 8,900 ft (2,714.5 m) of water. About 24 miles (38.6 km) to the northeast is Spiderman, at 8,300 ft (2,531.5 m). All are operated by Anadarko. Merganser, located 13.5 miles (21.72 km) southwest of the hub in 8,000 ft of water is operated by Kerr-McGee, as is Vortex, lying in 8,200 ft (2,501 m) of water about 23 miles (37 km) to the south. And San Jacinto, located about 20 miles (32.18 km) to the north-northeast will be operated by Dominion. Spinnaker and Devon are also participating in various partnerships with the principal operators. When completed, sometime in 2007 Independence Hub will hold the record for deepest water subsea tiebacks now held by Shell's Coulomb field at 7,570 ft (2,308.85 m).

Leading the pack in terms of distance, if not depth, is Statoil's SnØhvit field in the Barents Sea almost 100 miles (160.9 km) from shore. As one might expect gas fields lend themselves to mega tiebacks, but with record-breaking successes staring them in the face, operators are looking for ways to link smaller oil fields to a central hub as well. So far, BP's King field (adjacent to King's Peak) and ExxonMobil's Mica field hold the water depth and distance records, respectively, for oilfield subsea tiebacks.

More subsea tieback projects are on the drawing boards. Recently Cameron announced its CameronDC all electric production system capable of controlling a subsea well 120 miles (193.08 km) from the hub. If you consider a circle 120 miles in diameter, ostensibly one could drain 45,000 sq miles (116,550 sq km) from a single hub. Think of it, while I check the obits.

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