Armed with new technology, oil drillers revisit Gulf of Mexico

http://ift.tt/eA8V8J Apache Corp and a handful of smaller independent companies are using seismic surveying and horizontal drilling - techniques perfected during the onshore fracking boom - to tap mature fields and find hidden reserves on the shelf. The methods appeal to investors hungry for the quick profits that cannot be delivered by deepwater drilling, where a dozen years of planning and billions of dollars in investment can be required to get oil pumping. The technology, already used successfully by Apache in the North Sea, has revealed oil and gas reserves that were previously hidden in water less than 500 feet (150 meters) deep. "3D seismic has not only helped us in acquiring new leases with new reserves on them, but also in sharpening targets for development drilling in our existing fields," Andy Clifford, president of Saratoga Resources Inc, told Reuters.



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