It pains me that we spend so little money putting human beings into space and on other planets while we spend so much money and effort on oil. Whether it is fighting for oil fields in Iraq or messing with dictators for their oil, petroleum rules our modern lives.
Having said that, this oil drilling technology is freaking amazing. Drilling for oil under 2 miles of water is every bit as incredible as going into space. I just wish it did something more useful than keep our SUVs humming.
Wells Take Voyage to Bottom of the Sea
Smaller Oil and Gas Fields, Lower Costs Lead to a Boom In Pumps on the Ocean Floor
Wall Street Journal
July 26, 2007
Painted traffic-light yellow, the Independence Hub floats in the deepest water of any offshore platform. (The ocean floor is two miles below the surface.) Plans call for the hub to suck up to one billion cubic feet of natural gas from the earth every day. By itself, the platform is expected to produce enough gas to heat about 4.8 million U.S. homes.
Ten different gas fields are feeding into the Independence Hub, which is basically a floating pipeline hub, with an assortment of gas compressors. The remotest field, Cheyenne, is 30 miles south of the hub. Together, the fields hold an estimated two trillion cubic feet of discovered natural-gas reserves. If it were a single field, it would be one of the largest in the prolific gulf.
The fields are all stitched together by 125 miles of "umbilicals" -- thick flexible tubes that send electricity, orders and chemicals to the wells. It is so cold 9,000 feet below the waves that droplets of water in the gas can freeze and gum up the flow. To fight this, antifreeze stored in tanks over 40 feet tall is pumped down the umbilicals to the wells.
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