Uruguay: First offshore well in years breaks world record

First offshore well in four decades is currently being drilled in Uruguay. Being the first well in years to be drilled off the country’s coast is a milestone in itself, however there is more.

The well is a world record breaker. It is the deepest offshore well by water depth ever to be drilled.

Using a drillship owned by the Danish drilling contractor Maersk Drilling, Total, a France-based oil company is hoping to unearth oil and/or gas from the well sitting in water depth of 3.400 meters, beating the current record of 3.170 meters set by ONGC off the coast of India.

The well is so deep below the water surface that it almost meets the maximum operating depth of the Maersk Venturer drillship of 3.600 meters. According to a recent Bloomberg report, Total will be drilling 3.000 meters below the seabed, hoping to strike an elephant discovery.

The drilling operation on the Raya-1 well started on Wednesday, March 30, and it will take around a hundred days to complete. Total is drilling the well in cooperation with the U.S. oil company Exxon Mobil.

The Raya-1 prospect in Block 14 is located in ultra-deep waters, 250 kilometers from the Uruguayan coast. A Total exploration manager earlier this month said that if the well proves to be a big success, first oil from the project could be expected in 2021.

Offshore Energy Today Staff