LONDON, March 14 (UPI) -- A division of Royal Dutch Shell announced Monday that it discovered oil in the deepest waters that it ever explored off the coast of Brunei.
Brunei Shell Petroleum said it discovered oil at its Geronggong site about 60 miles off the coast of Brunei. The discovery was made in about 3,280 feet of water, the deepest ever for the company's work in Brunei.
Ceri Powell, a Shell vice president of upstream activity, said the discovery is a testament to the technological expertise at the company.
The Shell division said the acreage was explored using the deep-water Noble Phoenix rig. The energy company said it refurbished the rig's blowout preventer system for safer deep-water drilling.
Problems with the blowout preventer on the Deepwater Horizon rig were among the factors that led to the April oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
A British investigation into the energy sector called on London to make sure key components of blowout preventers that failed in the Gulf of Mexico were in place on all British oil rigs operating in deep waters.
Shell said it planned to appraise the Brunei find to assess the recovery potential during the next two years.
