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Transocean sets new drilling depth record

NEW DELHI, July 10 (UPI) -- A world record was set in India this week for offshore drilling operations at a water depth of more than 10,400 feet, rig contractor Transocean said.

Transocean announced it set a record for the deep water drilling when its drillship, Dhirubhai Deepwater KG1, started drilling a well in 10,411 feet of water.

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The drilling was under a contract with India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd. ONGC said in a statement last week it was one of the few companies in the world with a large number of ultra-deep wells.

"A large number of these wells are in daunting water depths beyond 5,000 feet in environmentally and logistically difficult areas of Indian East Coast and West Coast," the Indian energy company said.

Transocean said Monday the record broke its previous accomplishment with the same rig in February, where operations were conducted in 10,385 feet of water.

Neither company offered a reserve potential of the offshore areas targeted by Transocean's rig.

Transocean leased the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform to BP. That rig caught fire and sank when the Macondo well in deep waters in the Gulf of Mexico blew out in 2010, causing one of the worst offshore oil spills in the history of the industry.

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