New Oil discovery in Gulf of Mexico

Posted By on September 5, 2006

Oil Rig at Sunset
Preliminary drilling tests have indicated that a deep-water Gulf of Mexico well could increase the oil and natural gas reserves in the US by 50% according to news Tuesday. The Jack 2 well by a Chevron, Devon Energy and Norway’s Statoil has been “very encouraging” commented Stephen Hadden, Senior Vice-President of exploration and production. According to the news articles being published today, the lower-Tertiary formation in the Gulf of Mexico could hold up to 15 billion barrels of oil and gas reserves, more than Prudhoe Bay in Alaska. (currently the US largest oil field) This discovery is even a 1/3 larger than the controversial Arctic National Wildlife Refuge oil reserves estimated at 10 billion barrels of recoverable oil.

With this new find, one would expect that the recent crude oil price decline should continue. Currently crude oil is trading around $68/barrel. We’ll see if it show up at the pump … although I’ve noticed prices in Ohio about 70 cents per gallon lower than the $3.00/gallon summer high only a few weeks ago. (spotted $2.26/gal for unleaded regular gasoline at a Marathon Station in NE Ohio this morning)

Comments

Desultory - des-uhl-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee

  1. lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful: desultory conversation.
  2. digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random: a desultory remark.
My Desultory Blog