The Gulf of Mexico continues to rebound following the Deepwater Horizon accident. The latest development comes from Shell Oil Co., which began production from Tobago Field from a well in 9,627 feet of water—the deepest producing well in the world.
The well is part of the Perdido Development, which is jointly owned by Shell (32.5%), Chevron (57.5%) and Nexen (10%). Tobago field is one of three fields producing through the Perdido spar drilling and production platform and is about 200 miles southwest of Houston.
The previous record was held by a field in the same development—Silvertip—that was producing from a well at water depths of 9,365 feet.
Perdido is the world’s deepest, direct-vertical-access spar, which is moored in about 2,450 meters (8,000 feet) of water on Alaminos Canyon Block 815. Great White, Tobago and Silvertip fields are produced through the spar, which is a hub for the three fields.
The platform is jointly owned by Shell (33.34%), BP (33.33%) and Chevron (33.33%) and can process up to 100,000 barrels of oil per day and 200 million standard cubic feet of gas per day. The spar can handle production within a 48-kilometer (30-mile) radius. The peak production will be 100,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day, according to Shell.
Development drilling on the fields began in July 2007, five years after the discovery of oil and gas. Perdido produced its first oil and gas on March 31, 2010. The fields are producing from the Lower Tertiary. This is the first commercial production from the Lower Tertiary, which requires seabed pumps to move the hydrocarbons to the surface facility.
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