They know there's oil in the GOM, and yet they come up with dry wells all the time. How's that?
The one thing Lee stressed, as his experience taught him well, no matter how certain the geologist were, there's only one way to know for sure there's oil there: DRILL THE WELL. If it comes up dry, you're out $100 million. And based on my experience in the oil prospecting business, drilling 10 wells in what is certainly expected to contain oil reserves, may result in 9 dry holes. That put the kaibasche on oil exploration back in '81-'82 (when it cost only $25 million per well).
Would you please list the dry wells drilled in the GOM in the past ten years? 3D seismic has come a long ways as well as drilling.