Exxon eyes oil field 5 miles underwater

[Judi Lynn]

Source: UPI

Exxon eyes oil field 5 miles underwater
Published: May 8, 2013 at 6:24 AM

IRVING, Texas, May 8 (UPI) -- Exxon Mobil and Norwegian energy major Statoil said they were examining a frontier field in the Gulf of Mexico said to hold 6 billion barrels of reserves.

Exxon and Statoil announced the start of development of the Julia oil field in the Gulf of Mexico. Cost of the project is estimated at more than $4 billion. The field, discovered in 2007, could hold as much as 6 billion barrels of reserves.

President of Exxon Mobil Development Co. Neil Duffin said the field is more than 5 miles beneath the ocean's surface.

"Julia is one of the first large oil discoveries in the ultra-deep-water frontier of the Gulf of Mexico," he said in a statement.

Statoil said the lifetime of the frontier field is estimated at up to 40 years. Initial production, expected to begin in 2016, should be around 34,000 barrels of oil per day.







Read more: http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Energy-Resources/2013/05/08/Exxon-eyes-oil-field-5-miles-underwater/UPI-76681368008698/#ixzz2ShNTsHjo

[DFW]

1. Well, at least they told us the worst case scenario up front

About 34000 barrels of crude per day will flow into the Gulf of Mexico if there a blowout.

A blowout at that depth would be just about impossible to fix. I want Exxon to sign a binding document handing over control of the company to the EPA in case it ever happens, as they won't have enough money to ever compensate for the damage if a blowout happens.

Dream on, I know.

[Champion Jack]

2. Im sure it will be safe and clean, like when the pipeline blew in Arkansas

[Fuddnik]

5. Just as safe as the Deepwater Horizon.

Do we ever learn anything?

[mtasselin]

3. what

What could possibly go wrong, I hope people around the world finally say enough. These oil companies can and will promise anything, but something will go wrong and we can not stop it from happening.

[Newest Reality]

4. Well, if you go by

Last edited Wed May 8, 2013, 09:12 AM - Edit history (1)

350.org, the efforts to secure new reserves may be useful for production of materials, (just about everything is based on petroleum products) but we can only burn about twenty-percent of the current reserves.

There is a line and it looks like a fatal one that we have crossed. We are past that line and it seems we will push the planet to, and past, the two-degree increase mark and it could have catastrophic results concerning life on the planet. We need to reduce, not increase the CO2 ppm content of the atmosphere as many of you already know.

It does look like we are at a point where any efforts made should be towards significant changes for the sake of survival; that means we move quickly away from burning fossil fuels rather than exploring more exotic and remote means of extracting it.

The Koch Bros. have been working hard, and spending millions, to take us along on their thanatos train and what looks like demise-for-profit. This is a far more critical situation than it seems and more oil for burning as fuel is a bad, bad joke on all of us.

http://350.org/en

[snappyturtle]

6. Following the link are these suggested readings:

Recommended Stories
•Exxon gets gas moving in Malaysia
•Exxon sets sights offshore Canada
•Exxon starts oil production in Angola

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They want to tear up the entire planet.

[Javaman]

7. Going deeper and deeper.

5 miles under water but how deep then into the sediment?

[FarCenter]

8. The maximum water depth is 13,100 feet in the Gulf of Mexico

http://www.worldatlas.com/aatlas/infopage/gulfofmexico.htm

5 miles would be 26,400 feet, so at least half of the depth is below the floor of the Gulf.

The Macondo BP well was 35,000 feet total depth below sea level, and it was in 5000 feet of water.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepwater_Horizon_oil_spill

[Javaman]

9. Ahh thanks for the info. :) nt

[petronius]

11. This table gives a water depth of 7,000' for the Julia field

http://www.data.boem.gov/homepg/data_center/other/tables/deeptbl2.asp

[Marblehead]

10. The gulf of Mexico

is a sacrifice zone(dead zone) to the oil gods.

[Dustlawyer]

12. BP has been lying (imagine that) about everything, meanwhile the victims are screwed, the

Gulf is already dying, commercial fishing industry decimated! They have bought off Marine Biology departments to try to cover up their mess and testify in the cases that the Gulf is fine! Just like they say we have the most rigorous testing of our seafood, they smell it. LSU lab tested seafood passed by these inspectors with the blood hound noses and found over a thousand times more hydrocarbons (oil) than the acceptable limits. The pollution from our rivers is also killing everything which gives BP another thing to blame besides theirselves. We don't need the oceans except for food and oxygen, what the hell!

[City Lights]

13. What could go wrong?

Ugh.