Talk:Macondo Prospect

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Named after Macondo from Marquez's 100 Years of Solitude?.....

Importance, Competition

The Deepwater Horizon blowout/leak disaster sent me here. Unfortunately this article doesn't even begin to address my questions: 1] How do very very rough estimates of the size of this field compare to other fields? (I've heard this field is so large that it alone may have a noticeable effect on energy policy - is this true?) 2] How many different oil companies could tap this field? (BP has everything tied up already -or- only the few companies that can afford deep&deepwater drilling can compete -or- BP owns all the existing leases so far, but some plots that could tap the field aren't leased yet -or- not only BP but also XXX and YYY currently own leases that could tap the field -or- so far only BP, but full exploitation in the future will almost certainly require more than one company -or- ...) 3] Is this field "producing" at all yet, or is it still entirely in the exploratory stage? 68.163.203.189 (talk) 06:11, 9 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The reservoir figure given on this wiki page from ref [3] is 50 million barrels but it is not clear if this is 'Oil In Place' or 'recoverable'. However either way this is not a big reservoir, and given the deepwater, it would most likely be developed as a small subsea field tied back to another nearby production platform. In comparison the Mars (oil platform) and Thunder Horse oil field are around a billion barrels recvoverable i.e. 20 times this one. The ownership of the prospect is BP/Anardarko/Mitsui as given in the article, and this group of 'partners' are jointly exploring and developing the 'block' and discovery. This well, was the first well in the reservoir and was the discovery well. Further wells would normally be required to explore the extent of the reservoir, and confirm the productivity. These exploration and appraisal wells can be designed to be future production wells by putting a completion and subsea 'christmas tree' onto the wellhead. Follow the reference links for some good descriptions. (andyminicooper (talk) 21:43, 10 June 2010 (UTC))[reply]

Age of sediment

Do we know how old the material being drilled through is ~30 k feet below the sea bottom? I think this is the most appropriate article for that information. (fotoguzzi)