The Gulf of Mexico - 130 miles from shore,
Auger,
50,000 tonnes of engineering masterpiece
has been anchored in 2,800 feet of water, for twenty years.
Auger, clearly, was a deep water pioneer.
After a lifetime of drilling milestones
Auger was scheduled to retire,
but one elusive oil field still remained.
Auger had one last shot - and it hit the jackpot,
kick-starting an historic come back.
Auger makes Cardamom possible
Cardamom extends the life of Auger.
This is the story of Shell's legendary deep-water platform
and the oil field that's re-inventing it.
We're going to be testing another line
that comes from the UTP panel.
This deep-water drill rig and production facility
looks like many others in the Gulf of Mexico,
but Auger's unique.
Auger's a special platform for me, the first TLP I've ever worked on
It's very special to me - it's my home for 17 years.
Three decades ago, a rig this far off shore,
in water this deep,
was considered impossible.
It was generally thought by the industry,
as late as early 1980's that beyond the shelf edge
which would be in water that was greater than 600 to 1,000 feet,
there was likely not going to be commercial accumulations
of oil and gas.
In the late 80's everyone thought off-shore technology
had reached it's limit with 'Bullwinkle'
Installed in 1,300 feet of water,
and five times the height of the Statue of Liberty,
it still holds the record
for the tallest structure ever placed in the sea.
You're building this enormous structure, almost 1,500 feet tall,
and perched up on top of it is the usable part of the building
It's like building the largest skyscraper in the world
and occupying the top two floors,
the rest of it is just holding it up above the waves.
But Shell wanted to drill in water twice as deep as 'Bullwinkles'
It required a new breed of platform,
and a giant leap of faith.
Plans for the world's first 'Tension Leg Platform',
a rig anchored into the deep-sea floor were drawn up.
The Tension Leg Platform - the concept was enormous,
it was game changing in many ways.
It floats on large pontoons
and the connection to the sea-floor is not through the fixed structure
but rather through what are called 'Tendons'
that hold it in place and they're under tension.
In the mid 90's, Auger, the pioneer 'Tension Leg Platform'
or TLP,
began drilling at an unprecedented depth.
It's design was quickly replicated.
Four more were built, and installed in the Gulf.
As the new century approached,
and the oil directly below Auger diminshed,
it found a new lease of life as a hub,
processing oil from deep-water fields
up to 20 miles away.
So from the TLP you can actually control what goes on,
on those wells that are located many miles away on the sea bed.
But in 2008, Auger's six sub-sea fields began to slow.
She was scheduled for an oil rig's inevitable fate,
de-commissioning.
Nice and easy, buddy.
Auger's decline, or end of life was somewhere around 2015.
But talk turned to a mysterious new field
that might be near by - Cardamom.
The elusive oil field had been hidden beneath a vast
impenetrable salt deposit, six miles below the sea floor.
We've always known that the oil was down there,
or thought it was, but it wasn't until more recently
with some of the new seismic tools that we have
that we actually could prove that it was there,
and actually make it worth while to go after it.
But reaching Cardamom meant drilling a well like no other.
Using a directional drilling technique,
Auger pierced the sea floor and steered the drill
two miles horizontally through the earth's crust
around the salt deposit - directly into the oil.
When you drill wells at that depth,
they're eight inches in diameter,
two miles might as well be the other side of the solar system
At 31,000 feet from the drill deck,
this was the longest directional well ever made,
right into a giant find.
It's always a gamble, because you can never be sure,
you're always going to be making you best guess.
What it tells you about the Gulf of Mexico
is that there's probably still a lot to be done there,
that will keep the industry busy for a very long time.
Auger was saved from imminent de-commissioning,
but in 2010, as Auger geared up for it's big break,
disaster struck
when a blow-out at the deep-water 'Horizon' oil rig
killed 11 crew.
The well gushed into the Gulf for 87 days,
creating the worst accidental marine oil spill in history.
A six month moratorium on drilling in the Gulf,
left Auger's Cardamom discovery in limbo.
Stricter regulations were introduced,
but Shell's robust approach to operating safely and responsibly
meant that Auger was the first rig to recommence drilling.
In the last couple of years,
we've actually doubled capacity on the platform.
Once Cardamom comes on stream,
we're going to add another 60% on top of that.
And now Cardamom is almost ready to come on-line,
but not before Auger's multi-billion dollar upgrade
is complete.
Soon, this deep-water veteran will be able to handle
the mighty Cardamom.
Auger's old - she's 20 years old
there's a lot of work, there's a lot of money being spent on Auger.
We're revitalising the platform, to make it a platform
that will last another 20 years.
Auger very much was a pioneer,
and you could say now, with Cardamom,
as a six mile deep sub-salt discovery,
Auger continues to be a pioneer.
Today, Auger's history has made it a deep-water legend.
It's a success story unlike any other in off-shore exploration.
In 1997 I never thought that we would be here long enough
for me to retire.
Now that Cardamom's come on board,
I love Auger, so maybe I could retire right here.