The well isn't dry yet

RG · 03-09-2009, 08:07 AM

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sto...005961,00.html

Quote:

Originally Posted by Herald Sun

BRITISH energy company BP has made a "giant" oil discovery in the Gulf of Mexico after drilling one of the industry's deepest-ever wells. "BP announced today a giant oil discovery at its Tiber Prospect in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico," the company said overnight.

"The Tiber well was drilled to a total depth of approximately 35,055 feet (10,685 metres) making it one of the deepest wells ever drilled by the oil and gas industry," it added.

The announcement sent BP's share price rising 3.4 per cent to 537.15 pence on London's benchmark FTSE 100 index, which was down 0.61 per cent nearing the close.

BP's discovery comes as the industry this week marks 150 years since crude was first recovered from a drilled well and days after Scottish group Cairn Energy began pumping oil in India as exploration in the North Sea dwindles.

The discovery is larger than BP's Kaskida find, which contains around three billion barrels, in the same geological area three years ago.

The industry definition of a "giant" oil find refers to a field from which more than 500 million barrels of oil or gas equivalent can be recovered. Much oil found is never extracted because bringing it to the surface is too expensive.

Energy groups are increasingly drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and elsewhere as North Sea oil fields dry up.

A decent find so yay for V8 drivers lol.

duaned · 03-09-2009, 08:27 AM

And some sad faces in the LPG threads!

ltd · 03-09-2009, 09:25 AM

Great news.
As the oil price gets higher exploration that was otherwise deemed as too expensive to extract becomes viable. We've just got to convince others that we're not warming the globe and all would be well for v8 owners.

Iggypoppin' · 03-09-2009, 10:14 AM

Sweet! Now can we get on with global warming properly please??

ltd · 03-09-2009, 10:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 76txcoupe

Sweet! Now can we get on with global warming properly please??

He he he, just imagine how many more innocent carbons will be killed and floated to heaven in black balloons (CO2 doesn't float upwards, hello NSW government?) all in the name of that devil liquid; crude oil.

LeadFoot81 · 03-09-2009, 10:51 AM

Id like to post something witty, but I reckon ill go for a cruise in the '8 instead...;)

auxr · 03-09-2009, 10:52 AM

Ah well, best go out and buy a few more petro chemical shares.

merlin · 03-09-2009, 10:57 AM

deeper well = more expensive well
more expensive well = more expensive petrol
more expensive petrol = less V8 sales
less v8 sales = less v8 models
less v8 models = more expensive v8 models.
more expensive v8 models = less v8's.

Road_Warrior · 03-09-2009, 11:06 AM

I don't think any uber-massive oil find is going to translate to downward pressure on pump prices. 2 reasons being:

Oil companies/cartels are greedy; and

Skyrocketing car ownership in China redirecting demand for petrol

388cube_edxr8 · 03-09-2009, 01:47 PM

How long before somebody smarter than me figures out how to create artificial petrol?

Oh wait, its called Alcohol. Or Ethanol.

Why aren't we filling up with that? No more dependence on the oil mafia.

Boosh Brus · 03-09-2009, 01:52 PM

I recall the production of alcohol is not very environmentally friendly.

pond · 03-09-2009, 02:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boosh Brus

I recall the production of alcohol is not very environmentally friendly.

Neither is the disposal of the used product, unless you own a lemon tree.

Hang on a sec... what sort of alcohol are we talking about?

4Vman · 03-09-2009, 01:53 PM

The announcement will only push share prices up, all it means is we have more to last longer, they won't "flood" the market just because they have it.....

RG · 03-09-2009, 02:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 4Vman

The announcement will only push share prices up, all it means is we have more to last longer, they won't "flood" the market just because they have it.....

One would certainly hope that that would be the case. Anything other than that would be rather silly from a business POV.

JPFS1 · 03-09-2009, 04:41 PM

The market will be over it within months, if not weeks when the information is absorbed, the complexity of the field understood, the cost to develop and recover exorbitant.

Will do little to ease upward oil price pressure going forward.

Mansal · 03-09-2009, 05:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JPFS1

The market will be over it within months, if not weeks when the information is absorbed, the complexity of the field understood, the cost to develop and recover exorbitant.

Will do little to ease upward oil price pressure going forward.

Still, you'd think that drilling and finding 'the real deal' would be far cheaper than trying to extract oil from shale

ltd · 03-09-2009, 06:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mansal

Still, you'd think that drilling and finding 'the real deal' would be far cheaper than trying to extract oil from shale

Shale oil becomes viable at around the US$70/barrel, which we are hovering at now. I'd hazard a guess that should OPEC ever be greedy again (I know, I know), we'd continue assessing the investment needed to start production.

**DJM83** · 03-09-2009, 05:07 PM

Now we can get on with global warming properly

gtfpv · 03-09-2009, 05:31 PM

the myth of oil running out is shear nonsense. ask any petrochemical engineer.
did you know that oil wells that have been emptied over 50 years ago are actually re filling with oil !!!!

mrbaxr6t · 03-09-2009, 05:39 PM

crude oil is not just used as petrol, many consumer products such as anything made of plastic are crude oil based, the ramifications of us not running out of oil extend far past the use of cars, that said tho I do strongly feel we need a more environmentally friendly solution, for those that wish to play google Stanley Meyer - very interesting that is

tranquilized · 03-09-2009, 07:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gtfpv

did you know that oil wells that have been emptied over 50 years ago are actually re filling with oil !!!!

Well if this is the case, the USA will one day be the worlds biggest oil producer again.

Cant see it happening myself....

tranquilized · 03-09-2009, 07:40 PM

Not being able to use cars would be the smallest of all the ramifications of running out of oil. Besides, the technology is already there for oil free cars.

As a hypothetical - the world hits peak oil production within the next 5 or 10 years, you'd most likely see the world population halve. No drugs/medicines, no fertilisers = not enough food production. Trust me, the last thing on anyone's mind would be their car - the entire world would be in chaos.

But of course the world will never run out of oil completely. It will definitely become a lot harder to find than it is now though, and therefore a lot more expensive. I believe the younger of us will see the day when we laugh in disbelief that we used to 'burn' the stuff in engines - it has so many more valuable uses most people dont even know about.

This new find and future finds will keep the status quo for a little longer, then we have shale and oil sands but these are very damaging to the environment (as is mining some of the harder to reach oil fields) so that opens up a whole other can of worms.

Either way, interesting times ahead.