Oil Discovery Found in Gulf

EM

26 March 2013

Oil Discovery in Gulf

Oil was discovered six miles deep off the coast of Louisiana by Chevron and its partners. They had to go through a thick salt layer to discover the oil. It is located 31,866 feet below sea level in the Coronado prospect in the Gulf of Mexico. It was discovered with the help of Pacific Drilling’s Santa Ana drillship which constructed through a thick underground salt layer. Because this recent discovery of oil would help bring 400 feet of net oil pay from the well, meaning a measurement used by oil companies to determine the vertical thickness of the hydrocarbon-bearing area in an exploration well. The Coronado prospect is located about 200 miles south of Louisiana happens to be a part of a region with poorly executed drill at the Lower Tertiary Trend, which makes it difficult to drill in because the thick underground salt layer makes seismic scans challenging to read.

The Gulf of Mexico is “one of the primary worldwide focal points” for Chevron’s exploration and production program and 13,000 barrels are currently produced at The San Ramon, Calif.-based company.

The discovery of oil in the Gulf of Mexico is such a huge success that Gary Luquette, president of Chevron’s North America exploration and production division states, “The Coronado discovery continues our string of exploration successes in the Lower Tertiary Trend, where Chevron is advancing multiple projects…It also highlights the importance of the deep-water Gulf of Mexico as a source of domestic energy for the United States.” This is great news because it can help our country not depend on getting oil from foreign countries and just rely on domestic oil for this country, if more of these discoveries are found within the United States.