World's Deepest Water Drilling & Production Platform Completed by ExxonMobil

Production has started from the world's deepest water drilling and production platform, ExxonMobil's Hoover Diana development in the US Gulf of Mexico. The Hoover and Diana Fields are located 200 miles (324 km) south of Houston, in 4,800 ft (1,463 meters) of water and contain estimated recoverable resources exceeding 300 million oil-equivalent barrels.

The US$1.1 billion project to co-develop these two fields will produce peak rates of 100,000 b/d oil and 325 million cf/d of gas. Initial production commenced in May and is averaging 140 million cf/d gas and 18,000 b/d oil from five wells. ExxonMobil is operator with a 66.7& interest in the project while BP Amoco holds the remaining 33.3%.

"We are extremely proud to have set the world water-depth record for a combined drilling and production platform. The Hoover Diana Project is a major technological milestone for producing in the deepwater environment. Our cutting-edge experience with this project will be applied to subsequent developments around the world," said Harry J. Longwell, Exxon Mobil Corp. director and senior vice president.

ExxonMobil holds the largest deepwater prospective acreage position in the industry with 135 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico, West Africa, South America, and other parts of the world. The company has participated in 30 major deepwater discoveries. "We project deepwater oil and gas will account for more than 20% of our production by 2010," said Longwell.

The Hoover Diana development utilizes a Deep Draft Caisson Vessel (DDCV) located over the Hoover Field. The 83-story tall DDCV floats vertically and is nearly half a football field in diameter with drilling and production facilities installed. The utilization of surface production wellheads in this water depth at Hoover is an industry first. The Diana Field, located about 15 miles west of Hoover, is a subsea development that utilizes five horizontally completed wells tied back to the DDCV. The use of horizontal gravel packs in this water depth is also a world record. New oil and gas pipelines transport the production to shore.

The Hoover Diana development concept is flexible and can accommodate future developments in the area. The project advanced deepwater technology and set new records in several other key areas including subsea horizontal drilling, installation of deepwater pipelines/risers/mooring systems and the heaviest module lifts onto a floating surface offshore.

Edited by Dev George