Offshore
Mariner Energy is among the largest independent oil and gas companies operating in the Gulf of Mexico. At year-end 2008, the company had interests in nearly 400 Federal offshore leases, with more than 110 of those in development.
Deepwater
Mariner has actively conducted exploration and development projects since 1996 in water depths ranging from 1,300 feet up to 7,000 feet. Employing our experienced geoscientists, robust seismic database, and extensive subsea tieback expertise, we have participated in more than 75 deepwater wells. Our deepwater exploration operation targets larger potential reserve accumulations than are generally accessible onshore or on the Gulf of Mexico shelf.
Shelf
On the Continental Shelf of the Gulf of Mexico, we drill or participate in conventional shelf wells and deep shelf wells extending to water depths up to 1,000 feet.
We significantly increased our shelf operations and effectively doubled our size with our 2006 acquisition of the Gulf of Mexico operations of Forest Oil Corporation.
We currently pursue a two-pronged strategy on the shelf, combining opportunistic acquisitions of legacy producing fields believed to hold exploitation potential and active exploration activities targeting conventional and deep shelf opportunities. Given the highly mature nature of this area and the steep production declines characteristic of most wells in this region, the goal of our shallow water or shelf operation is to maximize cash flow for reinvestment in our deepwater and West Texas operations, as well as for expansion into new operating areas.
