Reply #9: The Gulf of Mexico oil reserves discovered in 2006 (up to 15 billion barrels)

[lunatica]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14678206/

Oil companies see big Gulf of Mexico discovery
Tests suggest huge oil field found in deep waters
Image: Oil well
Caption under image:
Chevron estimated the 300-square-mile region where its test well sits could hold between 3 billion and 15 billion barrels of oil and natural gas liquids.

Major crude discovery in Gulf?
Sept 5: NBC's Martin Savidge reports on the implications of a potential new source of oil beneath the Gulf of Mexico.

Nightly News
updated 7:12 a.m. MT, Wed., Sept . 6, 2006

WASHINGTON - A trio of oil companies led by Chevron Corp. has tapped a petroleum pool deep beneath the Gulf of Mexico that could boost the nation’s reserves by more than 50 percent. A test well indicates it could be the biggest new domestic oil discovery since Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay a generation ago.

But the vast oil deposit roughly four miles beneath the ocean floor won’t significantly reduce the country’s dependence on foreign oil and it won’t help lower prices at the pump anytime soon.

“It’s a nice positive, but the U.S. still has a big difference between its consumption and indigenous production,” said Art Smith, chief executive of energy consultant John S. Herold. “We’ll still be importing more than 50 percent of our oil needs.”

end of article
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Maybe there's as much oil under the ground of the Gulf of Mexico as there is water above it.