Three new U.S. depth records set

World Oil, Feb, 2001

Two depth records were set last year and one record was reported early this year. Burlington Resources' Bighorn 6-27 well in Madden field was drilled to 25,821-ft TVD. This is not only the deepest well drilled in Wyoming, but it is also the deepest well in any Rocky Mountain state. Burlington also set a record for any Rocky Mountain state with its Bighorn 5-6 well, with production from 24,938-ft TVD. The company could set more records in 2001 with its current drilling program in the Deep Madison formation.

In the federal GOM, Shell Deepwater Production set a new producing zone record in Garden Banks Block 602. Well OCS-G 11553-A2 is producing from a depth of 22,936 ft.

New to this year's drilling table is an old record just updated for New York State. The N.Y State Natural Gas Co. drilled the Olin 1 in 1958 to a TVD of 13,500 ft.

It is interesting that there seems to be a scarcity of new records as time passes. For example, as reported in World Oil February 1947 issue, 15 national depth records were set in the 20-year period between 1927 and 1947, whereas no national depth records have been set in the past 23 years. The current U.S. well with the deepest producing zone remains Chevron's Ruth Ledbetter 1, which began producing gas from 26,536 ft in 1977 (see Chronological records). The drilling depth record is Lone Star Production's Bertha Rodgers 1 at 31,441-ft TVD, set in 1974. Perhaps the economics, technology and/or geology simply do not justify greater depths.