Shell Sets Record with World's Deepest Subsea Well in Gulf of Mexico

Shell Oil Company has set a world record in drilling and completing a subsea well 9,627 feet below sea level.

The company is now producing oil from the world's deepest subsea well at its Perdido Development in the Tobago Field 200 miles southwest of Houston, in the Gulf of Mexico, according to a statement from the U.S.-based subsidiary of Dutch oil giant Royal Dutch Shell.

The Tobago well breaks the previous record held by the Silvertip field, also within the Perdido Development, at 9,356 feet below sea level.

Shell is the operator of the Tobago Field and owns 32.5 percent, while Chevron has a 57.5 percent stake and Nexen holds 10 percent. Tobago is one of three fields producing oil through the Perdido platform.

The Perdido Development is jointly owned by Shell, BP and Chevron and is said to be the deepest drilling and production facility in the world.

It can handle 100,000 barrels of oil per day and 200 million standard cubic feet of gas per day, and at its peak, Perdido can produce enough energy for more than two million US households, according to Shell.