Shell, FMC install subsea systems in world record water depth

By OGJ editors

HOUSTON, May 6 -- Shell Exploration & Production Co., operator of ultradeepwater Coulomb gas field in the Gulf of Mexico 144 miles southeast of New Orleans, now has Coulomb subsea systems in place in 7,600 ft. of water, a world-record depth for a subsea completion.

FMC Technologies Inc., Houston, manufactured and installed the facilities as part of its alliance with Shell for multiwell subsea development of projects within Shell's deepwater portfolio.

Coulomb development is a two-well subsea tieback to the Na Kika host facility, which will serve six fields—four oil and two gas—in the Mississippi Canyon area (OGJ, Sept. 15, 2003, p. 73).