Posted on 9/2/2009, 11:27:49 PM by bruinbirdman
BP has made a "giant" oil discovery in the Gulf of Mexico after drilling the deepest known oil well in the world.
The prospect, named Tiber, is believed to contain more than 3bn barrels of oil – making it a greater find than BP's Kaskida field in the region three years ago.
Sources close to BP said that within the next 10 to 15 years the Tiber and Kaskida finds could increase production by 50pc in the Gulf of Mexico.
Transocean, the US offshore rig company, said the Tiber well drilled more than 35,055 feet (10,685m) into the Earth about 250 miles south-east of Houston, Texas, was the deepest known well in the world.
BP currently produces 400,000 barrels per day from the Gulf of Mexico.
The area is particularly important to the Western oil majors because it is more accessible than fields in the Middle East or Russia.
BP has a 62pc majority stake in the Tiber block, while Petrobras, the state-owned Brazilian oil company, owns 20pc and US rival ConocoPhillips owns 18pc.
"Tiber represents BP's second material discovery in the emerging Lower Tertiary play in the Gulf of Mexico, following our earlier Kaskida discovery," said Andy Inglis, BP chief executive for exploration and production.
"These material discoveries, together with our industry-leading acreage position, support the continuing growth of our deepwater Gulf of Mexico business into the second half of the next decade."
A BP spokesman said that more tests would be needed to see how much oil was in the prospect and how much might be recoverable.
Shares in BP closed up 4.3pc at 541.65p, making it the biggest riser in the FTSE 100 index on Wednesday.
BP's find comes as the energy industry this week celebrates 150 years since crude oil was first
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Is this or is this not quite a bit deeper than the normal zones they find oil in?
Geologists?
Peak oil! Peak oil! We are doomed! /sarc
That’s good news. However, I hear an unexpected event called “winter” is going to occur this year. This is predicted to cause heating oil demand to unexpectedly rise, unexpectedly. Due to this forecast of unexpected demand rising unexpectedly, the price of gasoline must immediately be raised through the roof.
Umm.. you didn’t read far. The FIRST line of the EXCERPT said this is the deepest known oil well. I think that answers your question. I’m not a geologist. I just learnt to read goodly.
Very deep penetration into the skin of our precious Earth causes unprecidented amounts of pain to Gaia. They must be stopped immediately.
Ribbing you... My question is, were they drilling for the Chinese. EEK. Ribbing...
How does petroleum get that deep?
No, I read that, I’m just trying to get a sense... like 500 feet deeper? Twice as deep than the average well?
I mean we’re talking seven miles down. Wasn’t too long ago that that itself was farther deeper than any other drill holes of any type at all.
More evidence for an organic source of oil.
Thanks!
True. Less than a half year supply for U.S.
parsy, who says drill anyway
did they drill through the crust and into the Upper Mantle??
Most of the wells that I work on, are what we call shallow water wells. They are from the beach to 45 miles out. They are usually 12,000’ to 15,000’. I worked one a couple of years that was 19,000’. That was the deepest I have worked on.
The crust might be floating on an immense amount of oil, crust and mantle could be divided by vast amounts of oil.
its one of those theories
Very deep penetration into the skin of our precious Earth causes unprecidented amounts of pain to Gaia. They must be stopped immediately.
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