By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Dec. 3 -- Shell Oil Co. has has set a world water depth record in drilling and completing a subsea well 9,356 ft below the water's surface. The well was drilled in Silvertip field at the Perdido development project, 200 miles from Houston in the Gulf of Mexico (See map, OGJ, Sept. 8, 2008, p. 35).
As an oil well, the Perdido record is 35% deeper than the previous oil well record of 6,950 ft, also set by Shell in Fourier field also in the gulf.
At Perdido, Shell intends to drill an even deeper well in Tobago field at 9,627 ft. Shell operates Perdido on behalf of partners Chevron Corp. and BP PLC.
Shell and its partners will drill 35 wells at Perdido—22 direct vertical access and 13 remote—in the Great White, Tobago, and Silvertip fields in Alaminos Canyon.
Moored in 8,000 ft of water, the drilling and production facility will be the deepest in the world. Nine polyester mooring lines averaging more than 2 miles in length now hold the spar in place. The floating structure will weigh 50,000-tons and be nearly as tall as the Eiffel Tower when fully operational.
First production from Perdido is expected in early 2010, with the facility capable of handling 130,000 boe/d.
