Q is located in Mississippi Canyon block 961. The natural gas field is developed as a subsea tieback to the Anadarko-operated Independence Hub facility in the eastern US Gulf of Mexico. StatoilHydro has a 50% working interest in the Q field.

"StatoilHydro is a major player in deepwater Gulf of Mexico, and I am pleased that we now have the first StatoilHydro-operated deepwater field producing in the Gulf of Mexico," says Pete Stracke, StatoilHydro’s Asset Manager for Independence Hub.

With production from Q, StatoilHydro’s gas production in the US Gulf of Mexico is expected to grow by 40% in terms of volume.

StatoilHydro also has an 18.33% working interest in the Anadarko-operated Spiderman field, and 26.67% working interest in the ENI-operated San Jacinto field. Both fields are producing and are tied back to the Independence Hub.

Independence Hub is the world’s largest offshore natural gas processing facility, and Q is the 10th well to tie into the Hub. The Independence Hub came on production in July 2007.

According to Anadarko, no other floating platform in the world is installed at a greater sea depth - approximately 8,000 feet (2,400 metres) - than the Hub semi-submersible platform. Production is expected to be ramped up towards the Hub’s capacity of 1 billion cubic feet (28.3 MSm3) of natural gas per day by the end of 2007.

StatoilHydro is the second largest leaseholder in deepwater US Gulf of Mexico and has a working interest in several promising discoveries, like Tahiti, Jack and Knotty Head.