ExxonMobil's world of deepwater exploration & production Our tool kit of technology Hoover-Diana: a deepwater showcase Exploring deepwater basins Technology for drilling in deep oceans Designing deepwater tools Managing our resources Research & Development Energy for a better life

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Structural design
ExxonMobil uses proprietary software to create computer models of deepwater platforms to ensure the integrity of their designs.

Depth in the basics
Our commitment to deepwater technology includes the engineering of advanced production systems and the underlying science it takes to design them. ExxonMobil has the tools to select the best production options to handle wind, currents, earthquakes, ice and heavy seas. With acreage in waters as deep as 3,500 meters (11,500 feet) in the Mer Tres Profonde Sud block, Republic of Congo, ExxonMobil believes it can continue extending the reach of deepwater technology.


Hydrodynamics
ExxonMobil researchers test models in a wave basin at the Offshore Technology Research Center at Texas A&M University to predict the stresses and motions that new deepwater structures are likely to encounter in the open sea.

Floating production vessels
Floating production vessels.
In 1981, we operated one of the first floating systems to process oil and gas from offshore wells. Two of our fields in the North Sea, Balder and Jotun, and the Zafiro field in Equatorial Guinea now use improved versions of this technology. In 2001, the largest floating production and storage vessel in the world will begin operations in 1,310 meters (4,283 feet) of water in Angola's Girassol field, where ExxonMobil is a co-venturer.

Deep-draft caisson vessel (DDCV)

Deep-draft caisson vessel (DDCV).
ExxonMobil is a co-venturer in the Genesis DDCV (Gulf of Mexico, 1998) and operates a similar vessel in the Hoover-Diana field (Gulf of Mexico, 2000). The Hoover DDCV set a world water-depth record for a combined drilling and production platform.

Subsea production


Subsea production.
ExxonMobil is a leader in developing remotely operated production systems, including the Zinc template, a base of 10 wellheads in 451 meters (1,480 feet) of water (Gulf of Mexico, 1993). Zinc produces to a platform 9.6 kilometers (6 miles) away.

Tension-leg platforms (TLPs)

Tension-leg platforms (TLPs).
ExxonMobil holds the first patent for an oil and gas production tension-leg platform and has helped build three of them so far: Snorre (North Sea, 1992), Ram-Powell (Gulf of Mexico, 1997) and Ursa (Gulf of Mexico, 1999).

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