Minerals Report - International Seabed Authority

SUMMARY OF PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSIONS OF PETROLEUM
POTENTIAL AND DEVELOPMENT PROSPECTS IN DEEP SEA AREAS
Presentation
Dr. Vysotsky began his presentation on the petroleum potential of
deep-sea areas of the world recalling that during an earlier presentation
one of the speakers quoted Jules Verne on the mineral richness of the seas.
Dr. Vysotsky said that even the rich fantasy of the writer could not predict
that at the end of the 20 th century there would be so much by way of
hydrocarbon resources in the oceans, called in the jargon of the petroleum
industry “elephants”, which is understood to mean “rich resources”.
Dr. Vyotsky said that the term “deep water” refers to water depths
of more than 400m. In Russia, he also said, this depth is taken as more
than 500m. He said that ultra deep waters, for instance in Brazil is more
than 1,000 m and in some other areas it is more than 2,000m. According to
Dr Vysotsky, this division between deep water and shallow water is from
an economic point of view. For deep and ultra-deep waters, Dr Vysotsky
said that special platforms that are more expensive than simple platforms
are required.
Dr. Vysotsky informed participants that the development of
petroleum resources at depths below 200 m began in the 50s and by the
1960s exploration of deep-water petroleum resources had started. He said
that general exploration and development of petroleum reserves began at
the beginning of the 1970s when petroleum rich basins in the Gulf of
Mexico, not far from Brazil, were opened. He also said that high
productivity was reached in the middle of the 1990s and every year since
then more and more reserves have been opened, with more than 300
basins opened in the 90s. He said that the first deep water well was drilled
at more than 2700 m in the Gulf of Mexico, and that now, 3,000m was
common place in that basin. He said that the basin under development in
Brazil is 1700-1800m.
Dr. Vysotsky informed participants that it was an American
scientist, L. Weeks, who made the first estimate of the hydrocarbon
resources of the world’s oceans in 1971. According to Dr. Vysotsky,
INTERNATIONAL SEABED AUTHORITY 510