May 21 (Bloomberg) -- Transocean Inc., which owns one- fourth of the global supply of deepwater oil rigs, drilled the world's longest well off the coast of Qatar, surpassing the old record by almost a half mile (805 meters).
The well extends for 40,320 feet, including a 35,770-foot horizontal section, the Houston-based company said today in a statement. Transocean's offshore GSF Rig 127, which has retractable legs that extend to the seafloor, drilled the well in 36 days as part of a $6 billion A.P. Moeller-Maersk Group project.
The well exceeded the previous record length of 38,322 feet set earlier this year at Sakhalin Island off Russia's Pacific Coast, Transocean said. Maersk Oil & Gas, a unit of Copenhagen- based A.P. Moeller, plans to boost output from Qatar's Al Shaheen field to 525,000 barrels a day by the end of next year.
Oil and gas producers including Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc are using more horizontal wells to tap reserves formerly regarded as uneconomical.
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Friday, May 23, 2008
Transocean Drills World's Longest Well
40,320 feet: Transocean Drills World's Longest Well on Qatar Coast.
"GET YOUR F@%KING STRAW OUT OF MY MILKSHAKE!"
ReplyDeleteAll kidding aside, the capability to explore to unprecented depths is clearly a remarkable feat, due in large part to the conviction that crude oil exists in large quantities at great depth, exactly as abiotic oil theory predicts and drilling has confirmed.
Horizontal drilling, to depth, demonstrates the sophisticated level of today's exploration technology. That crude oil can be economically exploited, today, that yesterday, would have stayed in the ground, is testament to the reality, proved in industry after industry, not just petroleum, that as technology advances, economic efficiency increases.
When ultra-deep oil can be reached with increasing economic efficiency, smaller, shallower oil deposits will be just that much more economically viable to discover and produce.
This is a win-win situation.
So while big oil plays get all the ink, and catch the imagination, smaller finds will have their niche in the market.
These depth records are falling fast as reality dawns: Big oil plays exist way beyond anywhere predicted by "fossil" theory.
Ten years ago and even more recently, "fossil" theory conveniently predicted oil couldn't exist any deeper than a 15,000 foot depth "oil window."
Why was it convenient?
Because at the time, by and large with certain exceptions, Western oil drilling technology didn't reach beyond 15,000 feet.
"Fossil" theory justified limited technolgy; stunting the oil industy's capacity to explore deeper, becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy of limited and eventually declining oil production.
With those kind of servants, who needs enemies?
just to clarify - the 40,000ft is a "length", not a "depth". 36,000ft of it is horizontal, so the well's maximum vertical depth from the surface is 4000ft - so it's probably more likely around 2500ft below surface.
ReplyDeleteNot an unprecendented depth at all... or ultra-deep.
Does anyone know which directinal drilling company drilled the well - INTEQ, Schlumberger,Halliburton-Sperry, or Pathfinder? And which rotary steerable tools did they use? And what dogleg severity?