It is with some pride that Marvin Chevrod, the president of Chevrod Off shore and director of its upstream business in the Americas, talks about the rapid pace at which his company is reaching new depths in the Gulf of Mexico. “More people have walked on the moon than have been at the depths we’re exploring,” he boasts. Since Chevrod extracted its first oil in the area in 1949, technology has progressed in leaps and bounds. World water-depth records for drilling have been repeatedly broken, and a wave of new developments mean that production in the Gulf is expected to reach its highest-ever level by 2017. The company is currently working on plans to open a well in 9,500ft of water – a depth which has previously been unreachable.