At $20 million to $50 million each, deepwater wells are a major capital investment. Having the ability to drill them is not enough. It is the planning beforehand and the development work afterward that makes all the difference between profit and loss. In deepwater reservoirs, profitability may require an experienced operator who can design an efficient production system to minimize the number of wells to be drilled. In other fields, when the primary resource is natural gas and the area is remote, profitability may depend entirely on the operator's ability to get the gas to market.
Our strengths
Research — ExxonMobil invests nearly $200 million a year in upstream research to develop the advanced technology that gives us and our exploration partners a competitive edge.
Experience — ExxonMobil is the only major international oil company that operates or has interests in fields using all of the principal deepwater production systems.
Financial strength — With 1999 earnings of $7.9 billion and proven oil and gas reserves of more than 21.3 billion oil-equivalent barrels, ExxonMobil has the financial strength to support major projects. For host countries, that means having a partner with the largest resource base and strongest financial position of any non-government multinational oil company in the world.
Operating skill — ExxonMobil operates more than 28,000 wells in 600 fields, and participates in more than 1,000 fields operated by others.
People — Drawn by the company's reputation for advanced technology, some of the industry's best scientists, engineers and technicians join ExxonMobil — many of them coming from the countries where we work.
How deep is deep?
Since drillers first moved offshore more than 50 years ago, the meaning of deep water has changed. To many in the business, it means water too deep for conventional freestanding steel platforms. Today that depth is roughly 400 meters (1,300 feet), greater than the height of the Empire State Building in New York City. The industry’s definition of deep water will change again as ExxonMobil and others begin exploring in water depths of 3,000 meters (10,000 feet) and more.
Our deepwater world
As a leading explorer of deepwater basins, ExxonMobil holds interests in more than 135 million gross acres in waters deeper than 400 meters (1,300 feet). We participated in over 30 major discoveries and are the largest multinational holder of deepwater acreage in three of the world's most active regions: West Africa, Brazil and the Gulf of Mexico. This broad experience in deep water gives ExxonMobil the global database needed to quickly evaluate new finds, and the ability to develop them wisely.
1 Gulf of Mexico
Subsea production system (1974)
Compliant tower (1983)
Subsea gas production system (1993)
Deepest-ever drilling/production system (2000)
Gulf's largest deepwater acreage holder (2000),
including a share of Crazy Horse and nearby acreage
4 Brazil
Acquired acreage (1999)
Largest acreage holder among
multinational oil companies
3 Guyana
Acquired acreage (1999)
2 Trinidad/Tobago
Acquired acreage (1998)
5 West of Britain
Acreage acquired (1996)
6 Norway
Significant deepwater gas found (1997)
Oil & gas production (1999)
7 Azerbaijan, Caspian Sea
Offshore acreage awarded (1997)
8 Egypt, Nile Delta
Acquired acreage (2000)
9 West Africa
Region's largest deepwater acreage holder
16 world-class finds (1998-99)
Fast-track development of Zafiro, Equatorial Guinea
10 Malaysia, Indonesia
Discovery (1997)
11 Australia
Discovery (1979)
Blackback subsea development (1998)
