What is Deepwater Drilling

The moratorium on deepwater oil drilling ends in November, but this isn’t stopping some business advocates to request that the ban be lifted sooner. Just last week, an independent committee sent off a letter to the federal government encouraging them to end the moratorium before the November date.

So exactly what is deepwater drilling and how does it differ from regular oil drilling?

Just like its names implies, deepwater oil drilling involves exploring and processing oil or gas far off the shoreline, in depths of water that are 1,000 feet or more deep. There are essentially two different kinds of mechanisms that allow for deepwater drilling: semi-submersible drilling rigs and drillships.

Just a few decades ago, deepwater oil drilling was considered too expensive, but with the rapid rise in oil costs in recent years, it became more economicallyand technologically feasible. While deepwater drilling allows for oil companies to tap into the last remaining sources of crude oil, it also holds many dangers. The Deepwater Horizon oil explosion that erupted on April 20 was the worst-case scenario for what happens when deepwater drilling goes horribly wrong. As we saw with this recent environmental man-made disaster, when a leak or explosion occurs, it becomes near impossible to cap the leak at depths so great. The results are both immediate and unknowingly long-term, affecting both human and marine life.

As history has showed us before, sometimes the most massive tragedy is fuel for progress. That is the hope with the aftermath of the Gulf oil spill and one of the main intention’s of the federal government’s six-month ban on deepwater drilling, namely to vastly improve this perilous system so that future Deepwater Horizon oil spills can be prevented.

Tags: deepwater drilling, gulf oil spill, moratorium, oil drilling moratorium