The Gulf of Mexico continues to rebound following the Deepwater Horizon accident. The latest development comes from Shell Oil Co., which began production from the Tobago field from a well in 9,627 ft 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%). The 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 9,365-ft water depths.

Perdido is the world’s deepest, direct-vertical-access spar, which is moored in about 2,450 m (8,000 ft) of water on Alaminos Canyon Block 815. The 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-km (30-mile) radius. The peak production will be 100,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day, according to Shell.

There are 22 direct vertical access wells from the spar with an additional 13 subsea tiebacks. Producing wells are directly under the platform and up to seven miles away.

FMC Technologies provided the subsea wellheads for the project. Its overall scope of supply for the project included 25 subsea trees that were pressure rated at 10,000 psi, five subsea caisson separation and boosting systems, two subsea manifolds and related controls and equipment.

"Our strong and longstanding alliance with Shell has played a key role in our ability to develop subsea processing solutions while advancing the industry’s deepwater production capabilities,” said John Gremp, chairman, president and chief executive officer, FMC Technologies.

“Energy is fundamental to global economic growth. Providing this energy must be met practically, safely and in an environmentally responsible manner,” said Marvin Odum, Shell's 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.”

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. There are five specially designed, 1,500-hp, electrical, submersible pumps on the seafloor to boost production to the spar platform. This system also includes an innovative subsea separator and booster, according to Shell.

For the first time, a water-injection well was drilled (Great White GB001) in 8,000 ft of water to increase oil recovery.

Shell pointed to the safety record of the project. There have been about 13 million man-hours without a lost-time injury.

The spar platform was built by Technip in Pori, Finland. The cylindrical spar is 170-m (555-ft) long and is anchored to the seabed. The Noble Clyde Boudreaux rig drilled the production wells.

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