brikk, you are doing a great job here with the board, thanks!
Did you happen to compare the list of deep-water oil companies that are lease holders in that area, with the client list at Deep Down Inc.? Only 2 of the eight listed are not on Deep Down's client list!
The oil industry is on the verge of cracking open a deep-water region in the Gulf of Mexico that could become the nation's biggest new domestic source of oil since the discovery of Alaska's North Slope more than a generation ago.
Chevron Corp. and partners Devon Energy Corp. and Statoil ASA announced today(Sept 5 2005) the first successful oil production from the region, a 300-mile-wide swath of the Gulf that lies below miles of water and deep within a bed of ancient rocks geologists call the lower tertiary. The company said the well sustained a flow rate of more than 6,000 barrels of crude oil a day during the production test.
In addition to companies involved in the Jack well (Chevron Corp. Devon Energy Corp. and Statoil ASA) , deep-water oil is poised to play a larger role in the portfolios of Exxon Mobil Corp., BP PLC, Royal Dutch Shell PLC and Brazil's Petroleo Brasileiro SA. In the Gulf of Mexico, midsize companies such as Devon and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. are participating.
The test paves the way for the development of the three partners' Jack field, located 270 miles southwest of New Orleans, and ultimately for dozens of comparable discoveries under federal lease to companies that include Anadarko Petroleum Corp., Petróleo Brasileiro SA, Exxon Mobil Corp., BP PLC and Royal Dutch Shell PLC. Chevron and Devon officials estimate that the recent discoveries in the Gulf of Mexico's lower-tertiary formations hold more than three billion barrels' and perhaps as much as 15 billion barrels' worth of oil and gas reserves. If the industry succeeds in finding 15 billion barrels of oil, it would boost the nation's current reserves of 29.3 billion barrels by 50%.