?Oil prices broke records in 2008, peaking in July at $147 per barrel. The temporarily soaring price served as an impetus for new technologies and projects, thus enabling other record breakers, both on- and offshore, throughout the year.


In February, Exxon Neftgas Ltd. set a new world record for extended-reach drilling (ERD) with its Yastreb Z-12, achieving a depth of 38,322 feet in Chayvo Field offshore Sakhalin Island. This well exceeded, by 1,306 feet, the 2007 record set by Sakhalin-1 Project’s Z-11. The field currently holds 17 of the world’s longest ERD wells. This record stood for only four months before Maersk Oil Qatar drilled its BD-04A in Al Shaheen Field offshore Qatar.


For Maersk, Transocean Ltd. jackup GSF Rig 127 drilled 40,320 feet with a horizontal section of 35,770 feet. This was the first offshore well to exceed 40,000 feet, beating ExxonMobil’s Sakhalin-1 Chayvo Field record by 2,000 feet. The well took 36 days to drill and was completed with a 6.8-mile horizontal section.


The well also achieved an impressive record for longest reservoir contact. Using Schlumberger technology, the 8.5-inch, 35,449-foot horizontal section was drilled within three feet of the sweet spot in a reservoir target measuring 10 to 20 feet in thickness. This is possibly the most important record achieved because, at the end of the day, a well’s overall success is driven by contact between the reservoir and the wellbore.


According to Schlumberger, the Qatar well broke 10 records in all. In addition to the records mentioned, the well achieved records for deepest directional control and deepest downlink (measurement-while-drilling transmission and logging-while-drilling geosteering). The well achieved a record for the longest 8.5-inch-diameter section, which was drilled in two runs using Schlumberger’s PowerDrive X5 and PowerDrive Xceed rotary steerable system.


Meanwhile, StatoilHydro’s Gulltopp well, completed in April, holds the record for the longest drilled from a platform. The well is offshore Bergen, Norway, in 443 feet of water. The Gulltopp discovery lies 6.2 miles from Gullfaks A. StatoilHydro saved about 70% of the costs by drilling from the platform.


Also, overall U.S. rig counts reached a record-breaking 1,842 in April, the highest in 22 years, according to Baker Hughes Inc.


In July, Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc.’s Ocean Confidence semisubmersible drilled 1 OCS G10496 to a record 10,139 feet, setting the deepest water depth record in the Gulf of Mexico. The well was drilled for Murphy Exploration & Production Co.’s Manhattan prospect, on Lloyd Ridge Block 511, in ultradeep water. At the time of the announcement, only one well had been drilled in more than 10,000 feet of water—Chevron USA Inc.’s Toledo prospect in Alaminos Canyon Block 951.


In November, ODS-PetroData reported that deepwater-rig dayrates set a new record when three new drilling contracts won rates in excess of $600,000 per day.


According to ODS, deepwater-rig fleet use is at 100% and will remain at this level for the foreseeable future, despite recent declines in oil prices, because long-term deepwater projects are not likely to be affected by short-term slumps in worldwide energy demand.


Midwater-depth semisubmersible dayrates also reached an all-time high in 2008. Recent contracts were signed in excess of $400,000 per day due, while fleet utilization was hovering near 97%.


Another milestone in 2008 was the lifting of Washington bans on offshore drilling, after a more than two-decade moratorium. Although it is uncertain whether the ban will be reinstated under President Obama, many states are gearing up to begin offering leases for exploration.


First in the shoot is a lease sale offshore Virginia. The Minerals Management Service recently announced the bid round and is currently dispensing information for the acreage on offer, although Lease Sale 220 is expected to take place no earlier than 2011. It covers about 2.9 million acres at least 50 miles offshore. The MMS estimates the area contains as much as 130 million barrels of oil and 1.14 trillion cubic feet of gas.


Going forward, the megadeep Blackbeard West prospect, in the Gulf of Mexico’s shallow-water South Timbalier Block 168 in 70 feet of water, may prove the tightest hole in industry history. Time will tell.

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