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Answering oil questions

Understanding the history of offshore
drilling and the petroleum industry
lends context to the Deepwater
Horizon disaster
BY MARK WASHBURN Q: What is the history of off-
AND MARIA DAVID shore drilling?
McClatchy Newspapers In 1887, a well was drilled
near Summerland, Calif., from a

O
il and humanity have wharf that stuck about 300 feet
been linked since the into the Pacific. More beachside
dawn of civilization. derricks followed on the West
In ancient times, oil Coast, some nearly a quarter mile
that seeped to the surface of the from shore.
Earth was collected and used to But it wasnt until 1947 when
make ointments, medicines, build- the first fixed oil platform was
ing materials, adhesives and lamp built out of sight of land, 11 miles
fuel. off the Louisiana coast. Within
In modern times, oil has two years, there were 11 rigs
become a global, multi-billion- working in the Gulf of Mexico.
dollar industry that serves as the Rigs operated in relatively shal-
primary energy source for most of low water 1,500 feet or less
the world. Its by-products include until the last decade, when
plastics, fertilizers, asphalt, cos- advances in technology made
metics and hundreds of other drilling feasible in waters a mile T R AV I S H E Y I N G / W I C H I TA E A G L E / M C T
products. deep or more.
As the world continues to A drilling rig, sitting where a Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded on April 20, continues to
Q: Why go so deep?
grapple with the oil spill in the try and plug a massive oil leak that was created by the accident.
A: Because thats where the
Gulf of Mexico, a greater under- oil is. Production is declining in can strengthen our energy securi-
standing of the history of oil and the shallow waters of the Gulf as ty, create jobs and help rebuild
offshore drilling is in order. Here those reserves tap out.
MODERN HISTORY OF OIL our economy, Salazar said.
are a few questions and answers But massive reservoirs have 1859: Near Titusville, Pa., Col. Edwin Drake, a former rail- At that time, the Minerals
to help put the Deepwater been discovered in the deep water. road conductor, drills the first oil well, which reached 70 feet. Management Service estimated
Horizon disaster in context. Deepwater Horizon was drilling a Annual U.S. oil production was about 2,000 barrels. there was up to 41.5 billion bar-
production well on a huge find, 1870: John D. Rockefeller forms Standard Oil. rels of undiscovered, economical-
Q: Where does oil come
but the well was three miles 1875: Oil production spreads to California, New York, Ohio ly recoverable oil and up to 207
from?
below the sea floor, which was a and West Virginia. trillion cubic feet of recoverable
A: Oil began as tiny marine
mile from the surface. 1897: A well is drilled into the shallow Pacific from a pier in natural gas.
organisms about 50 million years
About 25 percent of the California. Q: Where does it stand
ago, when dinosaurs walked the
nations oil production and 20 1900: U.S. oil production hits 64 now?
Earth.
percent of its natural gas output million barrels. A: Deep water wells are in
As the organisms died, they
comes from the Gulf. Some 1901: Spindletop oil field near limbo as the Interior Department
lined the bottom of ancient seas
experts think there could be more Beaumont, Texas, is discovered, so rich has ordered companies to quit
and were gradually buried in silt.
than 40 billion barrels of undis- it spewed oil without pumping and drilling all new deep water wells
As sediment built up over mil-
covered oil in deep water, which introduced the notion of a gusher. anything in more than 500 feet
lions of years, they were under
would equal the nations oil con- 1960: Oil-rich nations form OPEC. of water for now.
tremendous pressure and heat,
sumption for about five years. 1967: Vast deposit found in Prudhoe Companies that have a permit
which turned them into a waxy
Q: What special problems Bay on Alaskas North Slope. to drill but havent started yet are
substance called kerogen, rich in
does the Gulf of Mexico pres- 1969: About 35 miles of California not allowed to proceed. Lease
carbon and hydrogen. This
ent to oil and gas prospecting? coastline are soiled by a blowout in a sales off Virginia, in the Arctic
migrated through porous rock
A: Mostly, its geology. well drilled 3,500 feet into the ocean and the Gulf have been canceled.
over the ages and collected as N AT I O N A L A R C H I V E S
Seismic tests to sample the floor off Santa Barbara. About 200,000 Companies already producing oil
deposits of oil and gas.
Earths crust are hampered by salt barrels are spilled. It takes 11 days to A gas station in from deep water units must pres-
Land masses shifted, sea levels
layers, some 15,000 feet thick, contain. Portland, Ore., ent a risk assessment study to the
changed and the ancient seabeds
which blur results. Deep test 1973: Arab oil embargo brings gas displays one of the Minerals Management Service.
wound up under dry land in
wells can cost more than $100 lines, prices spike. many signs that Q: What would the impact of
places like Texas and the Middle
million to drill, and oil companies 1977: Trans-Alaska Pipeline is reflected the gas a long-term shutdown of Gulf
East. Other oil beds formed deep
like to explore only the most opened. shortage affecting wells mean?
beneath the seas.
promising areas. In the 1990s, 1987: Deep-water exploration locates the United States in A: It could deter exploration
Q: When was the start of
four out of five wells turned out new and significant reservoirs in the June 1973. and production in the Gulf for
the modern oil era?
to be dry holes. Now, with mod- Gulf of Mexico. years to come, and decimate the
A: Historians credit Col.
ern technology, about three out of 1989: Exxon Valdez oil tanker hits a reef in Alaska, spills energy economies of states like
Edwin Drake with uncorking the
five yield oil. about 250,000 barrels. Louisiana, Texas and Alaska.
oil age. He drilled
Q: How did the Deepwater 2006: A massive oil reservoir is discovered in the Gulf of Economists and industry experts
a well near
Horizon do on such risky Mexico in an area called the Jack Field. would expect oil companies to
Titusville, Pa.,
wells? 2008: Prices spike as crude oil tops $100 per barrel for the move their expensive rigs to more
about 100 miles
A: It was known as one of the first time. promising waters off other coun-
north of
most successful offshore drillers 2010: Deepwater Horizon explodes in the Gulf. tries like Brazil.
Pittsburgh, in
1859 and was able in the Gulf. Commissioned in S O U R C E S : E N E R G Y I N F O R M AT I O N A D M I N I S T R AT I O N , I N T E R I O R D E PA RT M E N T, Drilling deep in the Gulf gen-
M I N E R A L S M A N AG E M E N T S E RV I C E , W O R L D B O O K , M C C L AT C H Y R E S E A R C H .
to refine the out- 2001, the Deepwater Horizon was erally doesnt pay unless oil
Drake
put into kerosene, in the vanguard of new drill ships prices are $80 a barrel or more.
widely used in lamps. able to burrow deeper than ever drilling before the accident in Mexico, Arctic Ocean, Cook Inlet Compare that to the cost of
Until that time, illumination before. the Gulf? in Alaska and off the Virginia drilling in rich oil pools of the
was largely achieved by combin- In 2009, working for BP, it A: Only three weeks before coast. It would have been the Middle East, where some wells
ing turpentine and whale oils. sank one of the deepest wells in the Deepwater Horizon disaster, largest expansion of offshore oil can extract oil for $5 a barrel.
Production methods improved the world, at 31,000 feet (deeper Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and gas territory in three decades. When oil prices plunged in
and by the beginning of the 20th than Mount Everest is tall) into a announced an expansion of oil It was presented as a move that 1999, many companies moved
century oil was being pumped in Gulf formation called the Lower and gas development and explo- would reduce dependence on deep water activities out of the
Texas, California, Oklahoma and Tertiary Trend. It found what is ration on the outer continental Arab oil and spur the industry to Gulf. It took five years for major
other states. Oil demand soared believed to be a massive deposit shelf. new hiring. activity to return.
with the growth of the automobile of more than 3 billion barrels. It would have opened up By responsibly expanding Mark Washburn is a reporter and
industry in the United States Q: What was the U.S. exploration in areas currently off- conventional energy development Maria David is a researcher for The
throughout the 1900s. national policy on offshore limits in the eastern Gulf of and exploration here at home, we Charlotte Observer.

Estimated offshore oil and gas deposits in the United States

Oil in billions of barrels Natural gas in trillions of cubic feet (Circle sizes represent range of estimates) National marine sanctuaries Existing leases (mostly in Gulf of Mexico)

PACIFIC COAST ATLANTIC COAST

Drilling has long been banned off most
of the Pacific coast, although some was
allowed off Southern California in wells
built before the congressional
moratorium went into effect there

Wash./
Ore.
0-0.9 0-4.9
NOTE: Additional offshore
drilling leases exist along Alaskas Atlantic
North Slope; no part of the state 0.6-3.8 7.2-32.2
has been subject to the offshore
drilling moratorium since 2003
1.1-3.6 2.3-5.2
GULF COAST
Drilling is permitted in the gulf
western and central gulf,
The
areas
western
estimated
and central
to contain
areas
a combined
are estimated
41ofbillion
Mid-
to contain a combined 41 billion barrels oil and Atlantic
1.2-3.8 1.1-4.1 barrels
211 of oil
trillion and feet
cubic 211 trillion cubic
of natural feet of natural gas.
gas
Drilling is prohibited through 2022 in the Eastern 0.4-3.0 5.5-27.5
Gulf.

Southern
3.5-8.5 6.4-14.7 Calif.
Eastern Atlantic
gulf
Coastal zones shown are based
on Minerals Management Western Central 0.1-0.8 1.7-6.8
Service administrative gulf gulf
boundaries along the outer
continental shelf
2.8-5.5 18.1-26.0
S O U R C E : M I N E R A L S M A N A G E M E N T S E R V I C E , E N E R G Y I N F O R M AT I O N A D M I N I S T R AT I O N , I N D E P E N D E N C E P R O J E C T, A N A D A R K O P E T R O L E U M
G R A P H I C : A D A M Z O L L A N D S T E V E L AY T O N , C H I C A G O T R I B U N E

OIL DRILLING
MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE