[copious.abundance]

Chevron plans floating city of deep-water wells in Gulf

Chevron Corp. has approved a $7.5 billion project to develop two deep-water fields in the outer rim of the Gulf of Mexico, marking one of the oil and gas industry's biggest investments ever in the U.S. offshore area and a big vote for the future of the region after the BP oil spill.

The decision on the Jack and St. Malo fields, which comes seven years after the first discovery there, sets in motion a sweeping effort to design and build a massive floating city about 280 miles southwest of New Orleans that is expected to produce its first barrels of crude oil in 2014.

[...]

[KingM]

Is there a reason you think they're lying about this investment? Is there some technological aspect that won't work? Sounds like a pretty firm plan, to me, using proven technology and exploiting a proven resource.

[americandream]

Is there a reason you think they're lying about this investment? Is there some technological aspect that won't work? Sounds like a pretty firm plan, to me, using proven technology and exploiting a proven resource.

There's a general scepticism given the managerial classes tendency to live today and pay tomorrow.

[Kristen]

Though it won't make the U.S. energy independent, production from Lower Tertiary fields is expected to help offset declines in shallow-water fields and lift overall output of the Gulf of Mexico, which today accounts for about a quarter of domestic oil production

If shallow waters are going to deplete, then that means depletion does happen (I'm pointing to you abiotic oil). Also domestic oil production is a slim margin of overall consumption, and it's only a quarter. It also begs the question of how much time before their's oil cities in the middle of the Pacific?

[Keith_McClary]

Commentators have pointed to the Jack 2 deep water test well in the Gulf of Mexico, announced 5 September 2006,[104] as evidence that there is no imminent peak in global oil production. According to one estimate, the field could account for up to 11% of U.S. production within seven years.[105] However, even though oil discoveries are expected after the peak oil of production is reached,[106] the new reserves of oil will be harder to find and extract. The Jack 2 field, for instance, is more than 20,000 feet (6,100 m) under the sea floor in 7,000 feet (2,100 m) of water, requiring 8.5 kilometers (5.3 mi) of pipe to reach. Additionally, even the maximum estimate of 15 billion barrels (2.4×109 m3) represents slightly less than 2 years of U.S. consumption at present levels.[107] Production began in December 2014 and is expected to ramp up to 94,000 b/d of crude and 21 MMcfd of gas by 2020. [108]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_oil
I added the last sentence.