Marathon Oil Co. and TotalFinaElf have set new world water-depth records for producing wells and laying pipelines, respectively, both at 7,209 feet below the surface, according to Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service (MMS). This exceeds the previous deepwater production record by about 100 feet, which was set by the French energy concern, TotalFinaElf, two months ago in the Aconcagua field in the Gulf of Mexico.

Marathon established the new record for deepwater production in the Camden Hills field in Mississippi Canyon Block 348, which is located about 150 miles southeast of New Orleans, the MMS said. Camden Hills was discovered by Marathon in 1999 and began producing in October. It currently is producing 100 MMcf/d of natural gas.

Camden Hills is the deepest field connected to the recently completed deepwater Canyon Express gathering pipeline system, which was laid by TotalFinaElf. The pipeline is comprised of 32 segments, and was sponsored by several operators in an effort to reduce costs in developing three separate deepwater natural gas fields in the Mississippi Canyon and Desoto Canyon areas, the MMS said.

The Canyon Express system links the Camden Hills, Aconcagua and Kings Peak gas fields. The peak production flowing into the pipeline is expected to be 500 MMcf/d once all of the wells from the fields are online.

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