“Shell Oil Company is now producing oil from the world’s deepest subsea well at its Perdido Development, utilizing advanced technology to lead the way in increasing the company’s ability to produce more domestic oil and gas resources.”, the company announced today.
The well, at 9,627 feet below the water’s surface, is located in the Tobago Field 200 miles southwest of Houston in the ultra-deep water of the Gulf of Mexico. Tobago is jointly owned by Shell (32.5%, as operator), Chevron (57.5%), and Nexen (10.0%) and is one of three fields producing through the Perdido drilling and production platform.
Tobago breaks the world water depth record for subsea production, previously held by another field in the Perdido Development, the Silvertip field at 9,356 feet of water.
“Energy is fundamental to global economic growth. Providing this energy must be met practically, safely and in an environmentally responsible manner,” said Marvin Odum, Upstream Americas Director . “Through our highly skilled workforce and cadre of global geoscientists, Shell has applied its advanced seismic and drilling technologies at Perdido to produce additional sources of oil and gas.”
FMC Technologies’ EVDT
That record was also achieved with an FMC-designed enhanced vertical deepwater tree (EVDT), a subsea oil and gas production tree system that earned FMC the 2008 Spotlight on New Technology Award at the energy industry’s Offshore Technology Conference in Houston. The EVDT offers operators a global standard for vertical completion systems and contains a number of innovative features that provide versatility, installation savings and operational efficiencies in deepwater fields.
“We are proud to have been a part of this record-setting effort and look forward to continuing our support of Shell on this and other projects.” said John Gremp, CEO of FMC Technologies
Moored in about 8,000 feet of water, the Perdido platform is jointly owned by Shell (33.34%), BP (33.33%) and Chevron (33.33%) and is the deepest drilling and production facility in the world with a capacity to handle 100,000 barrels of oil per day and 200 million standard cubic feet of gas per day. From Perdido, Shell accesses the Great White, Tobago, and Silvertip oil and gas fields through subsea wells directly below the facility and from wells up to seven miles away. At its peak, Perdido can produce enough energy to meet the needs of more than two million US households. Shell operates Perdido and its satellite fields on behalf of partners Chevron, Nexen, and BP.
[mappress] Offshore Energy Today Staff , November 18, 2011; Image: Shell