U.S. Department of the Interior Minerals Management Service Gulf of Mexico OCS Region NEWS RELEASE

MMS Announces New World Records Set in Deepwater

The Minerals Management Service (MMS), Gulf of Mexico Region, announces today that the oil and gas industry has set a new world water depth record for both pipelines and producing wells.

In September of 2001, MMS permitted the Canyon Express gas gathering pipeline system (Canyon Express).  This pipeline system comprises 32 pipeline segments and is a collaboration of several operators in an effort to reduce costs in developing three separate deepwater natural gas fields in the Mississippi Canyon and Desoto Canyon areas.  Canyon Express links the Camden Hills, Aconcagua, and Kings Peak natural gas fields.  It is anticipated that the peak production rate of Canyon Express will be 500 million cubic feet of natural gas per day once all the wells from these fields are on line.

The Camden Hills field was discovered in 1999 by Marathon Oil Company (Marathon) and is located in Mississippi Canyon Block 348, approximately 150 miles southeast of New Orleans.  It is the deepest field in the recently completed Canyon Express pipeline system.

Marathon has set the world record for well production, and TotalFinaElf has set the world record for laying a pipeline, both records set at a water depth of 7,209 feet.  This water depth record exceeds by about 100 feet the previous record set approximately two months ago by TotalFinaElf in the Aconcagua field.  Camden Hills consists of two subsea wells with flowlines and control systems connected to Canyon Express.  These wells were permitted by MMS on August 8, 2001, and began producing on October 11, 2002.  Camden Hills is currently producing 100 million cubic feet per day of natural gas.

MMS is the federal agency in the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages the nation's oil, natural gas and other mineral resources on the outer continental shelf in federal offshore waters.  The agency also collects, accounts for and disburses mineral revenues from federal and Indian leases.  These revenues totaled nearly $10 billion in 2001 and more than $120 billion since the agency was created in 1982.  Annually, nearly $1 billion from those revenues go into the Land and Water Conservation Fund for the acquisition and development of state and federal park and recreation lands.

-MMS-GOM-