Commentary, 5/6 2010

Catastrophic Loss

A little over a half a year ago, Transocean Ltd. announced that its ultra-deepwater semisubmersible rig Deepwater Horizon had drilled the deepest oil and gas well to date while working for British Petroleum and its co-owners on the Tiber well in the US Gulf of Mexico. Working with BP, the Transocean crews on the Deepwater Horizon drilled the well to a 35,050-foot vertical depth (measured depth of 35,055 feet) – more than 10 kilometres, while operating at a little over 1,250 metres of water.