NEW ORLEANS — The explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig has brought into sharp focus the high stakes trade-off in the energy industry’s push to drill in ever deeper waters in search of huge oil deposits.
Despite the mammoth risks and unique challenges associated with exploration in such a hostile environment, it’s the most promising source of new discoveries to quench the world’s relentless thirst for oil.
The lure of the deep is driven by technological advances that make previously inaccessible oil now reachable, and dwindling supplies at shallower depths due to years of exploration. High energy prices and lucrative government incentives have also made it more financially feasible.
“That’s where the oil is,” said Eric Smith, associate director of Tulane University’s Energy Institute. “You can’t find any oil any cheaper anywhere else.”