Huge oil reserve found in US gulf

[Nick M]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2006-09-05-08-28-12

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A trio of oil companies led by Chevron Corp. have tapped a petroleum pool deep beneath the Gulf of Mexico could boost the nation's reserves by more than 50 percent.

A test well indicates it could be the biggest new domestic oil discovery since Alaska's Prudhoe Bay a generation ago. But the vast oil deposit roughly four miles beneath the ocean floor won't significantly reduce the country's dependence on foreign oil and it won't help lower prices at the pump anytime soon, analysts said.

"It's a nice positive, but the U.S. still has a big difference between its consumption and indigenous production," said Art Smith, chief executive of energy consultant John S. Herold. "We'll still be importing more than 50 percent of our oil needs."

Chevron on Tuesday estimated the 300-square-mile region where its test well sits could hold between 3 billion and 15 billion barrels of oil and natural gas liquids. The U.S. consumes roughly 5.7 billion barrels of crude-oil in a year.




It will take many years and tens of billions of dollars to bring the newly tapped oil to market, but the discovery carries particular importance for the industry at a time when Western oil and gas companies are finding fewer opportunities in politically unstable parts of the world, including the Middle East, Africa and Russia.

The proximity of the Gulf of Mexico to the world's largest oil consuming nation makes it especially attractive. And it could bring pressure on Florida and other states to relax limits they have placed on drilling in their offshore waters for environmental and tourism reasons.

The country's reserves currently are more than 29 billion barrels of oil equivalent, according to the U.S. Energy Department. But the U.S. imports most of its oil from abroad and its overall supply is tiny when compared with, say, Saudi Arabia, whose reserves exceed 250 billion barrels.

Chevron's well, called "Jack 2," was drilled about 5.3 miles below sea level. Chevron has a 50 percent stake in the field, while partners Statoil ASA of Norway and Devon Energy Corp. of Oklahoma City own 25 percent each.

During the test, the Jack 2 well sustained a flow rate of more than 6,000 barrels of oil per day, but analysts and executives believe the payoff could be much larger than that.

The financial implications of the prospect are most significant for independent oil and gas producer Devon, which is the smallest of the three partners. Devon's shares soared about 12 percent on the New York Stock Exchange.

"This could not have happened in a better place," Devon CEO Larry Nichols said in a conference call with analysts.

The successful test well does not mean a huge supply of cheap oil will hit the market anytime soon.

Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Fadel Gheit estimated that the first production for the Chevron-led partnership might not come on line until after 2010, depending on how many more test wells the companies drill. That said, many companies, including BP PLC, Exxon Mobil Corp. and Anadarko Petroleum Corp., stand to benefit from their own projects in the so-called lower tertiary, a rock formation that is 24 million to 65 million years old.

"They may be the first ones to hit the jackpot, but if the current thinking is correct, this is only a beginning," Gheit said.

The well was drilled in the Walker Ridge area of the Gulf, about 270 miles southwest of New Orleans and 175 miles off the coast. It followed up a discovery made by Chevron in 2004.

San Ramon, Calif.-based Chevron said the well set a variety of records, including the deepest well successfully tested in the Gulf of Mexico. Chevron said the well was drilled more than 20,000 feet under the sea floor below 7,000 feet of water for a total depth of 28,175 feet.

Shares of Devon rose $7.73, or 12.1 percent, to $71.88 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange, above the top end of the stock's 52-week range of $48.94 to $70.35. Shares of Chevron rose $1.76, or 2.7 percent, to $66.59.

This of course is good news. It will be an increase in US production, which will force imported oil down in price. Each little bit counts.

 

[JustAnotherVictim]

FREEDOM!!!!!!

 

[Big Wang Bandit]

San Ramon, Calif.-based Chevron........

Owned.

 

[ValgeKotkas]

FREEDOM!!!!!!

From who?

 

[jdub]

FREEDOM!!!!!!

From who?

From our "friends" in the Middle East.
Unfortunately...it will take some time to produce this field...drilling at that depth takes time and lots of $$$.

 

[JustAnotherVictim]

Can't be much more than it is now.

 

[ValgeKotkas]

Bush has to make war with the terrifiing sea creatures. You saw the post with the ebay sea creature? Spooookyy...

 

[DreamerTheresa]

Bush has to make war with the terrifiing sea creatures. You saw the post with the ebay sea creature? Spooookyy...

HA!!!

 

[Big Wang Bandit]

We have been fighting that war for a long time. Navy S.E.A.L.S. are involced now

 

[bonus12]

fosil fuels aren't effiecient means of energy anymore. i think its time to invest in better technology.

 

[JustAnotherVictim]

You take care of that for us then.

 

[Adjuster]

"fosil fuels aren't effiecient means of energy anymore. i think its time to invest in better technology."

Statements like this crack me up. Did you think about that before you posted it?

What form of energy do you want to compare?

Let's look at Hydrogen. (I'll leave the cost of cracking it from water out of the problem, we will just look at the energy contained in it.)
Or LPG and Propane. (Back to hydrocarbons again, but they are not petrol.)

Ok, now compare them all to the gas you run in your car.

Guess what? There is more stored chemical energy in the gas you use in your car than in any of the alternatives. There is even more chemical energy in diesel fuel than "gas", one of the reasons diesel engines get better fuel economy than gas engines.

This is why you lower the gas mileage when you run E-85 for example. There is less energy in the 85% alcohol, so you need more of it to motivate the same amount of car the same distance.

Ok, I understand where your coming from, you'd like to see new ideas and energy sources, and really so would I, but I'm a realist, and I realize that right now, today, we need to find and develop all the hydrocarbon based energy sources we can. It is what we depend on to heat your home, generate your power in many cases, and fuel your Supra unless you have converted it over to solar power, or have perfected the methane burning car, and you have a fueling system built into your seats... (Methane is a natural byproduct of life, so sit down, plug it in, and get to gassing up your car with alternative energy!) LOL Just keep in mind that methane has even less chemical energy, so your going to need lots of it... Want another bowl of beans..? How about some nice ripe fruit?

 

[IJ.]

Last time I bought Petrol I got half a tank of Dinosaur teeth.....
(common sense would ask how the hell did fossils get buried that deep where they pump oil up from)

 

[bonus12]

"fosil fuels aren't effiecient means of energy anymore. i think its time to invest in better technology."

Statements like this crack me up. Did you think about that before you posted it?

What form of energy do you want to compare?

Let's look at Hydrogen. (I'll leave the cost of cracking it from water out of the problem, we will just look at the energy contained in it.)
Or LPG and Propane. (Back to hydrocarbons again, but they are not petrol.)

Ok, now compare them all to the gas you run in your car.

Guess what? There is more stored chemical energy in the gas you use in your car than in any of the alternatives. There is even more chemical energy in diesel fuel than "gas", one of the reasons diesel engines get better fuel economy than gas engines.

This is why you lower the gas mileage when you run E-85 for example. There is less energy in the 85% alcohol, so you need more of it to motivate the same amount of car the same distance.

Ok, I understand where your coming from, you'd like to see new ideas and energy sources, and really so would I, but I'm a realist, and I realize that right now, today, we need to find and develop all the hydrocarbon based energy sources we can. It is what we depend on to heat your home, generate your power in many cases, and fuel your Supra unless you have converted it over to solar power, or have perfected the methane burning car, and you have a fueling system built into your seats... (Methane is a natural byproduct of life, so sit down, plug it in, and get to gassing up your car with alternative energy!) LOL Just keep in mind that methane has even less chemical energy, so your going to need lots of it... Want another bowl of beans..? How about some nice ripe fruit?

actually, there is plenty of open space in america (land and sea alike) to use for wind, geothermal and hydro powers.

obviously this transition isnt going to happen overnight, but it would be start to invest in these kinds of sources instead of pouring money into the gulf.

Aren't you guys sick of prices for fossil fuels? when there is a demand for cheap power, the answer will be electricity. however, americans still like to help out the big oil companies.

Adjuster, do some research on these renewable sources; you will be happily surprised. :icon_bigg

 

[IJ.]

Electric cars...... now there's an environmental disaster in the making..

 

[Adjuster]

I used to work for ARCO solar. Making solar panels.

You know why that plant was closed down? Lack of demand for panels.

The price is too costly for what you get in return.

That is why hydrocarbons like Petrol are so awesome to burn in your Supra, and the whole idea of "something better" is just that.

An idea.

 

[Nick M]

Last time I bought Petrol I got half a tank of Dinosaur teeth.....
(common sense would ask how the hell did fossils get buried that deep where they pump oil up from)

They were buried in the flood of Noah 5000 years ago IJ.

 

[inline6]

I used to work for ARCO solar. Making solar panels.

You know why that plant was closed down? Lack of demand for panels.

The price is too costly for what you get in return.

That is why hydrocarbons like Petrol are so awesome to burn in your Supra, and the whole idea of "something better" is just that.

An idea.

I was at the State Fair and their was a booth pushing solar energy for homes. I asked the information guy how many years it would take to pay for itself because of the high buy in cost and after sidestepping my question for a few minutes, I got the answer, "a really, really long time"

 

[Adjuster]

Yep, Inline6, we made panels for remote sensors, switches and other rail road uses, and they were put onto very remote buildings owned by the government, but very few of them were being used in actual home building for ordinary people.

We had one order for a housing development in Arizona. About 10 homes into the planned 1500, the developer cancelled the order because NOBODY was buying the solar option.. It was over 150,000.00 USD to cover the roof on one side with these panels, and that amount of solar power panels in 1985 would barely charge up your home each day, and give you battery power for RV style lights throughout the house...

Ok, do the math.

Average home in AZ to run the airconditioning all the time is about 200.00 per month. (Guess, but pretty dang close I bet.)

Ok at that rate, the roof pays for itself in about 62.5 years......

Yep, I can see why so many were sold.

On the other hand, I sold solar hot water heaters in the late 80's, when Regan's tax cut for solar energy basicly allowed you to reduce your tax bill by up to 5,000.00. It was taxes you would pay anyway, so if you spent 5k on solar hot water, you wrote it off, and it was free so to speak. (Sold quite a few of those, then the tax credit went away, and sales nosedived.)

Again, do the math. 5k in bills, your hot water is about 30.00 per month of it. (Again a guess, but hey, I used to sell this stuff, so it's pretty close.)

Yep, that's 13.8 years boys and girls... I have yet to live in the same house for over 5 years, so what a gamble for many people...

And we had one on my house in California. It was great when the sun was out, we had unlimited hot water, but when it was cold and cloudy, the hot water heater was on like normal. (only we were used to using all the hot water we wanted... so our bills were probably higher than many.)

When the cost of using solar, or wind or whatever can compete with burning hydrocarbons, you will see a large increase in alternative sources of power/energy. Untill then, you will see me boosting 25psi and loving it!

 

[Reign_Maker]

Im gunna make a car that runs on pixie dust and wet dreams... *sighs* I mean, why not, Im making my Supra run on wishes and desires...