126
The Last Resource
prot. After protracted discussions and argument, the Shell—Esso
partnership and its partners in the Gas Council—Amoco group
_
agreed prices for North Sea gas of between 2-87d and 2905! in
December 1968. These contracts with the British Gas Council are
worth about ,{2,000 million.
In the United States the petroleum industry has an investment of
over 310,000 millions in the exploitation of off—shore oil and gas
elds and a recent annual sales rate of over 3700 million. On a world
basis the takings from off—shore drillings are probably more than
four times this gure. ln all, something like a hundred or more
companies in sixty countries are involved in the search. This state
of affairs results partly from a natural evolution of the exploitation
of reserves in swampy coastal regions but mainly because the com—
panies must tap every possible economic source of oil and natural
gas to survive and to help satisfy the ever—increasing world demand
for energy. It is an industry where the prots can be big, but where
the risks too are correspondingly high. Reading descriptions of
marine operations by major companies or consortia, one soon be—
comes accustomed to costs in the millions—an exploratory well in
the North Sea costs anything from £ 500,000 to over £ I million and
to build and equip the drilling rig probably requires an investment
of £2 to £3 million in the rst place.
ln spite of such hefty expenses, the cost of exploiting off—shore oil
and gas elds is probably modest in comparison with that anticipated
for the development of deep-sea dredging. The collector itself, a
bottom—crawling tractor capable of dredging a path twenty feet or so
wide at a modest speed of two miles per hour, would cost some
50,000, while the ‘vacuum cleaner’ type of buoyant dredger might
cost two or three times this. Then the nodules or other deposit has
to be lifted to the surface and a hydraulic or air—lift system to do this
might add another J{300,000 Finally comes the expense of providing
the surface terminal, some kind of ocean—going ship. The mining
ship would have to be a fairly substantial vessel capable of with—
standing heavy storms and seas and would need facilities for con—
trolling and providing power for the dredges and lifting gear as well
as some storage and processing plant for the dredged deposits. Such
a ship might easily cost £2 million or more. And yet, on paper
at
least, it is still possible to show a prot—though whether this Will
be true in practice remains to be seen.
In the 19705 dredging might evolve along similar lines to those
The Last Resource
prot. After protracted discussions and argument, the Shell—Esso
partnership and its partners in the Gas Council—Amoco group
_
agreed prices for North Sea gas of between 2-87d and 2905! in
December 1968. These contracts with the British Gas Council are
worth about ,{2,000 million.
In the United States the petroleum industry has an investment of
over 310,000 millions in the exploitation of off—shore oil and gas
elds and a recent annual sales rate of over 3700 million. On a world
basis the takings from off—shore drillings are probably more than
four times this gure. ln all, something like a hundred or more
companies in sixty countries are involved in the search. This state
of affairs results partly from a natural evolution of the exploitation
of reserves in swampy coastal regions but mainly because the com—
panies must tap every possible economic source of oil and natural
gas to survive and to help satisfy the ever—increasing world demand
for energy. It is an industry where the prots can be big, but where
the risks too are correspondingly high. Reading descriptions of
marine operations by major companies or consortia, one soon be—
comes accustomed to costs in the millions—an exploratory well in
the North Sea costs anything from £ 500,000 to over £ I million and
to build and equip the drilling rig probably requires an investment
of £2 to £3 million in the rst place.
ln spite of such hefty expenses, the cost of exploiting off—shore oil
and gas elds is probably modest in comparison with that anticipated
for the development of deep-sea dredging. The collector itself, a
bottom—crawling tractor capable of dredging a path twenty feet or so
wide at a modest speed of two miles per hour, would cost some
50,000, while the ‘vacuum cleaner’ type of buoyant dredger might
cost two or three times this. Then the nodules or other deposit has
to be lifted to the surface and a hydraulic or air—lift system to do this
might add another J{300,000 Finally comes the expense of providing
the surface terminal, some kind of ocean—going ship. The mining
ship would have to be a fairly substantial vessel capable of with—
standing heavy storms and seas and would need facilities for con—
trolling and providing power for the dredges and lifting gear as well
as some storage and processing plant for the dredged deposits. Such
a ship might easily cost £2 million or more. And yet, on paper
at
least, it is still possible to show a prot—though whether this Will
be true in practice remains to be seen.
In the 19705 dredging might evolve along similar lines to those