In December 2008 Shell set a world water depth record in drilling and completing a subsea well 9,356 ft below the water’s surface. The SA001 well was drilled to 16,300 ft TD in Silvertip field at the Perdido regional development project, 200 miles from Houston. Silvertip field is on Alaminos Canyon Block 815 in OCS lease G19409 in the Gulf of Mexico. The Noble Clyde Boudreaux double-derrick, dual-activity semisubmersible drilled and completed the record well. The semisub employed 16 mooring lines on this project. As an oil well, the Silvertip record is 35% deeper than the previous oil well record of 6,950 ft, also set by Shell in Fourier field also in the gulf. At Perdido, Shell intends to drill an even deeper well in Tobago field at 9,627 ft on Alaminos Canyon Block 859. Shell operates Perdido on behalf of partners Chevron Corp. and BP PLC. Moored in 8,000 ft of water, the drilling and production facility will be the deepest offshore well in the world. Nine polyester mooring lines averaging more than 2 miles in length now hold the spar in place. The floating structure will weigh 50,000-tons and be nearly as tall as the Eiffel Tower when fully operational. First production from Perdido is expected in early 2010, with the facility capable of handling 130,000 boe/d.