How about horizontal drilling; can we go out there and drill back to the forbidden area?
“How about horizontal drilling; can we go out there and drill back to the forbidden area?”
I don’t know. Maybe someone more knowledgeable about such details is around.
You have to have a structure to drill and produce from. If the water is deep enough, 300 feet or so, you can have subsea trees or wet trees and drill from a floater. If the water is shallow you have to have dry trees or trees sitting on a structure.
Horizontal drilling means your wells are horizontal. You kick off, and drill through the reservoir horizontally. It is done alot in the north sea, where the tvd is relatively shallow, but not in the gulf where the tvd is high. But you still have to have a structure to produce to. Max. distance in a horizontal well currently is 30,000 feet. That is approx 5.5 miles so to drill offshore to reservoirs from land probably wouldnt be possible.
What people in Florida fear is a discharge on the beaches like the Exxon Valdez. Discharges happen, but it is usually mud.