According to the U.S. Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service (MMS), deepwater drilling (1,000 ft. and deeper) shows the greatest potential of development, and certainly has garnered the attention (as well as the E&P dollars) of offshore oil production industry leaders. By yearend 2003, the MMS estimates as much as 63 percent of the oil production and 29 percent of the daily gas production will come from deepwater reserves. In August of 1998 there were 30 (temporary and permanent) deepwater rigs drilling simultaneously in the Gulf of Mexico's Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), at depths greater than this. The proliferation of deepwater development projects will likely continue to grow…
