Gallery

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Drill, Drill, Drill: 100 Million Barrel Discovery

HOUSTON CHRONICLE -- The Houston-based independent explorer and producer Anadarko announced a discovery at its Heidelberg prospect in the Gulf of Mexico. The field, in about 5,000 feet of water, is near the company’s Constitution oil and gas platform about 190 miles southwest of New Orleans. The well’s total depth reached about 28,500 feet, the company said. The Heidelberg discovery likely equates to a discovery of 100 million barrels of oil equivalent.

Anadarko said the discovery well in the Heidelberg field increases its understanding of the surrounding deepwater rock formations under a thick layer of salt. The company has drilled seven successful exploration wells in that area, known as the Miocene trend.

The news comes less than a month after Anadarko announced that a test well in the Jubilee field offshore Ghana indicated it could eventually deliver 20,000 barrels of oil per day. Also, Houston-based Mariner Energy, one of Anadarko’s partners on the Heidelberg field, announced drilling successes on two other Gulf wells, including one much closer to Louisiana’s shore in 60 feet of water.

MP: Doesn't this report suggest that new oil discoveries are still being made on a regular basis, that there's plenty of oil available, that new technologies increase the probability of future oil discoveries, that we have plenty of domestic energy resources available, that we're nowhere close to running out of oil, and that oil prices will remain low for decades?

Update
: As Colin points out in a comment, "And policies designed to promote the use of expensive alternative energy sources when plenty of crude oil remains will only make us poorer."

No comments:

Post a Comment