By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Nov. 18 -- A new world record for water depth drilling—10,011 ft—has been set in the Gulf of Mexico, reports the US Minerals Management Service (MMS).
The Transocean Inc. drillship Discoverer Deep Seas spudded the well Sunday for ChevronTexaco Corp. on Alaminos Canyon ultradeepwater Block 951 in ChevronTexaco's Toledo prospect.
This drill site is 175 miles east of Brownsville, Tex., and within 3 miles of Mexican waters.
It is the first time in the offshore drilling industry's history that a drilling rig has explored for oil and natural gas in water deeper than 10,000 ft, MMS officials said.
The previous world water-depth drilling record was set in October 2001 in 9,727 ft of water on Alaminos Canyon Block 903 by another Transocean drillship, the Discoverer Spirit, working for Unocal Corp. (OGJ Online, Nov. 19, 2001)
