Twenty-Thousand Feet Under the Sea

Today's announcement of the major oil find in the Gulf of Mexico was at the top of all of the news in all of the media outlets, most importantly because it is the largest domestic oil find since that in Alaska's North Slope a generation ago. If this and the other new prospects in the Gulf produce as expected, U.S. oil reserves will increase by an astonishing 50%.

Second, because the find is the product of an engineering marvel by Chevron and its partners. The massive oil pool was found (1) 7,000 feet under water and (2) 20,000 feet of earth under that. Chevron, et al broke half a dozen engineering records in the drill according to reports.

Third, because of the glimpse into the unfamiliar, romantic and quintessentially American oil finding (not the technical term) bidness that is as much a part of America as the Wild West. We (I anyway) now know what "prospect" means when used in the mining context. "Prospectors," like the California 49'ers, were those who looked for a vein--I don't know, I guess a "significant source"--of gold, or in this case black gold.

Finally, the name of this site (probably not the technical term) is "Jack 2."  I can't explain why but that's cool.

So congratulations to Chevron, engineers, and namers of "prospects." You're the Big Story.