ALAMINOS CANYON BLOCK 857, Gulf Of Mexico — Two hundred miles off the coast of Texas, ribbons of pipe are reaching for oil and natural gas deeper below the ocean’s surface than ever before.
These pipes, which run nearly 2 miles deep, are connected to a floating platform that is so remote Shell named it Perdido, which means “lost” in Spanish. What attracted Shell to this location is a geologic formation found throughout the Gulf of Mexico that might contain enough oil to satisfy U.S. demand for two years.
While Perdido is isolated, it isn’t alone. Across the gulf, energy companies are probing dozens of new deepwater fields thanks to high oil prices and technological advances that finally make it possible to tap them.
The oil will not do much to lower global oil prices. But with increased production from onshore U.S. fields and slowing domestic demand for gasoline, it could reduce U.S. oil imports by more than half over the next decade.
Eighteen months ago, the Obama administration halted drilling and stopped issuing new permits after the explosion of a BP well killed 11 people and caused the largest oil spill in U.S. history.
But the moratorium was lifted, and the first new drilling permit was issued in March. Now the gulf is humming again, and oil executives describe it as the world’s best place to drill.
Numbers
5.5 million Barrels of oil extracted per day from deepwater fields in 2011, or 6 percent of global production
40 Deepwater rigs likely in the Gulf of Mexico by early 2012, up from 37 before the BP spill
1.5 million Barrels of oil the gulf produces per day — 27 percent of U.S. output
