Of course, this does not include such amenities as drilling exploratory wells, the cost of pipelines and floating facilities, such as oil platforms from which most of the drilling takes place. However, several important advantages linked to this discovery and to similar oil endeavors is that oil companies "will have to pay the U.S. less taxes, royalties, oil payments and other levies" as compared to drilling for oil within the national water boundaries of other oil-producing nations" (Gold, 2009, Internet), many of whom are members of OPEC.
In addition, there are plans for exploring a second Lower Tertiary site in the Gulf of Mexico known as the Chinook and Cascade Prospects which was discovered by a Brazil-based oil exploration company earlier in 2009. However, as compared to the BP discovery, this site will require a hugely expensive floating production platform which will be used for storage and as an off-loading facility, referred to as a FPSO. Obviously, as pointed out by Michael C. Lambert, drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico is a very risky business, due to the fact that even after exploratory wells are drilled, potential oil reservoirs may not be as large as expected, thus making all efforts...
But in the case of this new discovery by BP, if it turns out to be as large as estimated, the U.S. may profit handsomely and may be on its way to eliminating, at least to some degree, its dependence on foreign oil.
REFERENCES
"BP Announces Giant Oil Discovery in the Gulf of Mexico." (2 September 2009). BP. Internet.
Accessed November 17, 2009 from http://www.bp.com/genericarticle.do?
categoryId=2012968&contentId=7055818.
Gismatullin, Edward. (2 September 2009). "BP Makes Giant Oil Discovery in Gulf of Mexico." Bloomberg.coom. Internet. Accessed November 17, 2009 from http://www.bloomberg.
com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=adF31W9._rik.
Gold, Russel. (3 September 2009). "BP's Big Oil Find Cements Gulf's Revival." The Wall
Street Journal Online. Internet. Accessed November 17, 2009 from http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125189057895179241.html.
Johnson, Howard M. (2005). The gulf of mexico and its oil potential. New York: Bloomberg
Publications.
Lambert, Michael C. (2006). The geology of the gulf of mexico. New York: G.K. Hall.
