[nth]

This is US oil. US claims this area.

As for this discovery, I believe they already made a public announcement about this in 2004. So, this is just recycle news. They are going to drill another test well in 2007. So, we won't see this producing anytime soon.350ft of pay dirt

[Cynus]

Hooray! We might have found a lot of oil! So what are we going to do with it? Use it to fuel our military for the next, well, forever? Use it to build up our rail systems? Use it to power the factories pumping out solar panels? Use it to redevelop our communities to become sustainable? Nope, we're going to burn it in our SUVs.

[gego]

Those drilling depths are something else. Commercial airliners fly in the 30,000 ft. range to give you a sense of how deep they are needing to drill to extract this oil.

If this is the biggest find in many years, and it, at best only provides six months of worldwide production, then we clearly are in trouble, not to mention the dangerous location of this field.

[jeezlouise]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('nth', 'T')his is US oil. US claims this area.

As for this discovery, I believe they already made a public announcement about this in 2004. So, this is just recycle news. They are going to drill another test well in 2007. So, we won't see this producing anytime soon.350ft of pay dirt

[mjdlight]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cynus', 'N')ope, we're going to burn it in our SUVs.

[nth]

Why is the news media rereporting this?

They already reported this in 2004. Did they get new info? No, it is same info. Are we going to see them republish other news of new oil fields from 2005?

[Pablo2079]

double plus good

[Gazzatrone]

With all this talk about how much is or isn't in the ground, considering recent meterological events in the Gulf of Mexico, might this all turn out to be redundant should Mother Nature decide to throw a few breezy "spanners" into the mix.

Hurricaine Katrina and Rita as examples anyone?

[Mechler]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('DantesPeak', 'I') haven't seen any news reports yet about how energy companies will deal with hurricanes in that area with 170 MPH winds. Does anyone think the technology will be available to stand up to these hurricane forces?

[Ingenuity_Gap]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Gideon', 'F')irst of all, is this the agreed upon definition of peak oil? . . .

"If economics don't play in, PO is however believed to co-inside with the time half of the worlds oil is extracted. "

I thought that peak oil was when production peaked, not when the amount out of the ground is half.

In any event, much of the oil in the world is not extratable at commerciall viable prices, so if you use the "1/2" the world's oil method, then you probably never reach peak oil, because more than 1/2 is probably unrecoverable.

If you mean 1/2 of the commercially extractable oil, then you are talking about price. The 1/2 changes with price. At $200 per barrel, the "peak" shifts dramatically into the future relative to $70 a barrel.

So I like the production peak, because, economically, it is much more relevant than volume peak.

[ChicknLittle]

The cynical progressive in me guesses that this "news" was re-released in advance of the November elections to help the mood of the Voters. Don't worry, Be Happy, Vote Republican.

[Concerned]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ingenuity_Gap', '
')
From the multitude of oil peaks (production, consumption, 1/2 of reserves, etc), clearly the most painful is the peak "extraction rate". It really doesn't matter how much quality oil still is in the ground if it cannot be extracted fast enough to feed the global consumption paranoia.

The world economy needs every single day its drug dose (currently at 84-85 mbpd) to keep it running. If the oil extraction rate falls measurably under that, bubye economic growth, hello recession.

So even if the Gulf of Mexico discovery contains 10 trillion barrels of sweet light crude, it's completely useless if the maximum possible extraction rate is say 100 kbpd, due to geopolitical factors, location, infrastructure, terrorism, etc.

[joewp]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ChicknLittle', 'T')he cynical progressive in me guesses that this "news" was released in advance of the November elections to help the mood of the Voters. Don't worry, Be Happy, Vote Republican.

[BigTex]

Trying to visualize drilling at those depths is mind boggling. That's one LONG straw.

I wonder what the per barrel cost is of extracting that oil?

I'm happy that this is the Gulf of Mexico and not the Caspian Sea. Hurricanes give more notice than terrorists.

This probably means more U.S. jobs as well, as opposed to a discovery on the other side of the world.

[Ingenuity_Gap]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Concerned', 'I') agree completely with your assessment regards peak extraction rate. This is the whole problem "cheap easy to get energy" that sustains our modern economy.

[o2ny]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('joewp', 'O')h wait!
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'C')hevron announced discovery of the Jack prospect in September 2004.

[rwwff]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cynus', 'N')ope, we're going to burn it in our SUVs.

[mjdlight]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rwwff', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cynus', 'N')ope, we're going to burn it in our SUVs.

[joewp]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('o2ny', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('joewp', 'O')h wait!
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'C')hevron announced discovery of the Jack prospect in September 2004.

[AirlinePilot]

Im seeing that this is not neccesarily the news we might think it is. How much of this is factored in to current estimates and depletion/peak models?

Is this just the hype I think it is? Or is it really a new large discovery? I am particularly interested in the estimates, 3-15 billion barrels seems like a huge uncertainty to me.

Anyone in the know have some rational answers?

Thanks.