- Advanced drilling technology boosts production from Santa Ynez Unit
- World’s longest extended-reach well drilled from an offshore fixed platform drilling rig
- Longest extended-reach well drilled in North America
ExxonMobil has completed the world’s longest extended-reach well drilled from an existing offshore fixed platform drilling rig, increasing the company’s ability to produce more domestic oil supplies from existing facilities at the Santa Ynez unit, offshore southern California. The well drilled from the Heritage platform using ExxonMobil’s Fast Drill technology extends more than six miles horizontally and more than 7,000 feet below sea level.
Through the use of this extended reach drill technology, the well will be able to produce an additional 5.8 million barrels of oil equivalent, an amount equal to the annual energy consumption of over 144,000 Californians.
“ExxonMobil is applying its advanced drilling technologies to produce more domestic supplies of oil to meet America’s growing energy needs,” said Kok-Yew See, ExxonMobil’s U.S. production manager. “These new tools and lessons learned from our recent work off Russia’s Sakhalin Island have been key in helping us reach these resources safely and efficiently.”
The Santa Ynez Unit, located in federal waters, is comprised of the Hondo, Harmony and Heritage platforms. They produce oil and gas from the Hondo, Pescado and Sacate fields. Since 1981, the Santa Ynez Unit has produced more than 450 million barrels of oil. During that time, the Santa Ynez Unit has earned 12 Safety Awards for Excellence from the Pacific Region of the U.S. Department of Interior Minerals Management Service (MMS) for outstanding safety and environmental performance on the Outer Continental Shelf.
In 2007, ExxonMobil advanced the science of extended reach drilling, which allowed oil production in the western Sacate field from the existing offshore Heritage platform. Geologists and engineers have employed this technology on the newest well to access previously unreachable resources without installing an additional structure.
ExxonMobil is also applying its leading-edge Fast Drill technology to achieve improvements in drilling rates by up to 80 percent. The technology is resulting in new production being brought on quickly, safely and at lower cost.
