GM sulphur...I was just taking a look at Flotation Technologies website & noticed that their last posted news from last January was for the Chevron Tahiti field: http://www.flotec.com/flo8.html
Of interesting note though was just prior to the cameras going offline at DDI you were able to capture a screenshot of a trailer load from Flotec>>> http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=23804916 And upon further review of your old screenshots prior to the cameras going offline we saw these Flotation Technologies buoyancy modules at Deep Down Inc. http://www.flotec.com/flo31.html
So when considering Chevron's already a Deep Down Inc. client(Chevron: Typhoon) & Deep Down's drilling riser flotation contracts from Oct. 3/07: "Deep Down, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: DPDW - News) announced today that it has secured over $22 million in drilling riser flotation contracts for Matrix Asia Pacific Pty Ltd of Perth, Australia, and expects to close over $8 million in additional contracts within the next couple of weeks."...it makes for a good read in the article below for all who are attempting to connect the dots especially with Mako closing so close:
"Deep Oil"-Tahiti Field Monday, January 29, 2007 SUSIE GHARIB: Hidden treasure could be buried below the Gulf of Mexico's deepest waters. Experts think billions of barrels of oil are waiting to be retrieved. But until now, reaching those rich reserves has been economically and technologically impossible. Tonight Diane Eastabrook begins a three part-series exploring oil's next frontier and the high stakes involved in reaching it. In part one of "Deep Oil," we travel to the Gulf's Tahiti field, which Chevron calls one of the most significant oil finds in decades.
DIANE EASTABROOK, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: Reaching the Tahiti field in the Gulf of Mexico is no small undertaking. It's a two- hour helicopter ride from New Orleans over 190 miles of land and sea. The oil field Chevron named Tahiti is here below 4,300 feet of water and another 20,000 feet of mud, salt and rock. Onboard the drill ship "Discoverer Deep Seas," workers from Chevron and a variety of oil service companies are completing work on wells that should start producing oil early next year.
MICKEY DRIVER, GOVERNMENT & PUBLIC AFFAIRS ADVISOR, CHEVRON: Until you drill, you don't know what's there.
EASTABROOK: Chevron's government and public affairs advisor Mickey Driver says the company is confident the payoff from Tahiti will be huge.
DRIVER: Chevron drilled an exploratory well in this area in 2002 and discovered a massive oil field that we estimate contains between 400 and 500 million barrels of oil.
EASTABROOK: Roughly 30 percent of U.S. oil production comes from the Gulf of Mexico. Oil companies have been drilling here since World War II. But much of the production has been in waters no deeper than a few hundred feet. Drilling in waters anywhere from 1,000 to 10,000 feet is a relatively new phenomenon. Oppenheimer and Company energy analyst Fadel Gheit, who owns stock in Chevron, says soaring oil demand is sending exploration and drilling into previously uncharted waters.
FADEL GHEIT, ENERGY ANALYST, OPPENHEIMER & CO.: You keep going deeper and deeper and deeper, you know and harsher environment, deeper water, more complex geology because the low-hanging fruit has already been picked.
EASTABROOK: But developing and drilling oil in deeper waters is challenging. Chevron drill site manager Donald Legros says installing risers or tubes that help drill the wells is much harder in deep water.
DONALD LEGROS, DRILL SITE MANAGER, CHEVRON: The current plays a lot on us when we are running the riser. The current will push it to one side or the other and it will start rubbing on the rotary real hard and we actually have to shut down sometimes or drift with it.
EASTABROOK: Deep water drilling also requires different tools. Houston, Texas-based Transocean operates the drill ship for the Tahiti project. The 800-foot-long "Discoverer Deep Seas" can't be anchored in 4,000 feet of water. Rig manager Michael Acuff says a global positioning satellite system and acoustic beacons must keep the ship in place.
MICHAEL ACUFF, RIG MANAGER, TRANSOCEAN, INC.: It has a computer system that models the environment and the criteria, the weather criteria onboard and then it controls the thrusters to stay within a predetermined area that we've designated.
EASTABROOK: A remote-operated vehicle or ROV, must be used to cap well heads. Underwater cameras and a robotic arm help engineer Michael Stokes, from Scotland-based Sub Sea 7, perform the task.
MICHAEL STOKES, ROV ENGINEER, SUBSEA 7: At the moment there are a number of cameras on the sub. There's one looking down from the top of the sub and there's another camera watching this fellow work here, with the controller for the seven-function arm.
EASTABROOK: Deep water drilling is hugely expensive. It costs Chevron about a half million dollars a day to lease and operate this ship. The company estimates it will have spent more than $2 billion by the time it produces a single drop of oil. Chevron is optimistic that once Tahiti comes on line, it will produce oil for up to 30 years. Still, there are uncertainties. The company estimates Tahiti will be profitable as long as oil prices remain above $30 a barrel. But if prices fall below that level for a number of years, the project could be a money-loser. Paul Siegele, Chevron's vice president for deepwater exploration projects, admits geology could present other problems.
PAUL SIEGELE, V.P., DEEPWATER EXPLORATION/PROJECTS, CHEVRON: You think, for instance, that individual reservoirs are connected and they turn out not to be connected. So suddenly a well will stop producing prematurely, or a well -- water will break through to a well and have the same effect. You know, the oil that you thought you were going to get out is not going to get out.
EASTABROOK: Still, Chevron is confident the investment it has made in Tahiti is well worth the risk. The company also thinks the knowledge it gains from drilling at Tahiti will prepare it for exploration and production in even deeper waters in the future. Diane Eastabrook, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, in the Gulf of Mexico.
KANGAS: Tomorrow, "Deep Oil" continues with a look at the cutting-edge technologies making deep water drilling safer and more effective.
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