Calling the US Gulf of Mexico's Deep Shelf play a "hot play" is probably doing it a disservice. Hot plays tend to conjure images of high-profile successes and failures, where often luck is more important than diligent science in separating the former from the latter. Certainly luck does play apart in any venture as nonquantifiable as oil and gas exploration, but in this particular play, sound science is a much more important element. The play is frill of dichotomies. It's not a pure exploration play, per se, because much of the acreage already is leased, and much of the seismic already has been shot. It's not a classic example of small independents taking over properties ditched by the majors because these are not easy drilling targets. Any company, independent or major, who hopes to develop these fields needs to understand a great deal about imaging hard-to-see targets; drilling through depleted zones; drilling and completing in high-pressure, high-temperature environments; and producing high-volume wells through infrastructure that was designed for more modest flow rates.
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