The Hoover and Diana fields, located in the Gulf of Mexico 320 kilometers (200 miles) from Houston, hold the equivalent of 400 million barrels of oil. ExxonMobil is also the primary leaseholder on several good prospects and discoveries nearby, such as the Marshall and Madison fields, which will be tied into the Hoover hub in 2002.

				Project Milestones The discovery of oil in 1996 began this aggressive development schedule. 1996 Diana appraisal well finds oil. Began selecting options for developing the field. 1997 Oil found in Hoover prospect. Decision made to build deep-draft caisson vessel. Construction of the hull began in Finland. 1998 Continued construction of upper decks, USA. 1999 Hull arrived in USA from Finland. Hull launched and topsides installed. Subsea pipelines installed. 2000 Development wells drilled in the Hoover and Diana fields. Began production of oil and gas.

In deep water, most of the subsea equipment work is done by robots - a technology we helped develop in the mid-1980s. These remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) are controlled from vessels on the surface. They vary from beach ball-size camera pods to truck-size vehicles that do complex maintenance jobs.

A global success
To build the $1.6 billion Hoover platform, we called on suppliers around the world. Steel came from Great Britain, pipe from Germany and Japan, and moorings from France and Spain. Umbilical cables came from the Czech Republic, Sweden and Norway. To Install the massive topsides, we hired the world's largest heavy lift vessel from Italy. Even the pipelines that carry oil from Hoover to Texas and Louisiana were installed by a firm from Switzerland. With this world of experience, Hoover was built on time and under budget - a triumph of international technology, cooperation and skill.

1 The 63,000-ton (127 million-pound) Hoover deep-draft caisson vessel is the size of an 83-story office building. When it was deployed in 1,570 meters (4,800 feet) of water, Hoover set a world water-depth record for a drilling and production platform.

2 Vertical pipelines called risers deliver oil and gas from wells in the Hoover reservoir up to the caisson vessel.

3 Two lines carry Hoover-Diana's oil and gas to shore through one of the longest pipeline systems in the Gulf of Mexico.

4 Subsea wells in the Diana field send oil and gas back to the Hoover caisson vessel for treatment before it goes by pipeline to shore.