'O'NO! modifies (flips) stance on offshore drilling

[GlynMeek]

Originally Posted by 392cobra

I don't know if the people that are going on about the 68 million acres really understand the oil business or not. From all the people I have ever talked to,very few have the slightest clue as to how the discovery phase of oil fields take place.
I spent a lot of time managing Seismic Survey Ships that do the Geophysical Surveys.
People in this line of business are referred to as Doodlebuggers.

I found an article that does a good job of explaining the process.
You'll see that going out drilling holes on just a trial an error basis just doesn't happen.I think this is what too many people thinks happens.

http://science.howstuffworks.com/oil-drilling.htm

ABSOLUTELY agree. I am currently involved in an oil deal in the Caspian Sea. The oil company knows already the potential yield of EVERY field they own. They have already done the seismic studies BEFORE they start drilling, and the age of "let's just drill and see what we find" is long gone, and I think that is almost certainly true for most of the leases that are currently owned by the oil companies.

While we're on the subject of rigs, it takes about 16 months to build a medium size jack-up rig (300 foot leg), the cost of the steel is typically $8-$12 million depending on rig size out of a total cost of between perhaps $100 and $170 million for the total cost of a rig.

Worst case...start building a new rig today, drill for oil in a KNOWN lease and within 18-20 months we have OIL!!!

Originally Posted by cobra de capell

Much of the 68 million non-producing acres may be in the “risky” category. Legislation to force companies to drill on all leases is superfluous because those leases will eventually expire.

Yes, also true, which is precisely why we NEED to open up the NEW leases!

Glyn

PS Scott...the difference is that the holes are drilled by REAL companies, NOT by government workers...lol. If REAL companies were filling in potholes they'd take a fraction of the time.