The gusher paradox

A new oil discovery is great for the drillers – but may be bad for us.

The recent discovery of a massive oilfield under the Gulf of Mexico appears to be a godsend for our crude-hungry country. It’s not that simple, however. The new deep-water find is a pointed example of the way elevated oil and gas prices always seem to lead us to new technologies and, eventually, to renewed supplies. But one giant new gusher does nothing to get us off the gerbil wheel of ever more consumption creating ever more demand.

In case you missed it, in early September a consortium of Chevron (Charts), Devon Energy (Charts), and Norway’s Statoil announced it had struck oil at the Jack No. 2 well, some 170 miles southwest of New Orleans and 29,000 feet down through water and earth. Geologists estimate that the area contains anywhere from three billion to 15 billion barrels.

If the find comes in at the upper end of that range – and of course the oil whisperers believe that will be the case – it will be the largest U.S. oilfield. (Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay, where BP (Charts) recently had some pipeline problems, is currently the biggest, with some 12 billion barrels produced.) The deposits could increase U.S. reserves, now at about 29 billion barrels, by 50%. No wonder the strike added to the downward momentum on oil prices: Since peaking at $77 in mid-July, the cost of a barrel of crude has fallen below $64.

Fortune