Offshore oil on the East Coast

Abstract

Drilling along the eastern coast of the U.S. in the last several months has proven disappointing in returns for oil and gas prospects, although many of the close‐in leases have yet to be sampled. A very recent report from the U.S. Geological Survey on potential oil‐leasing structures further offshore, however, suggests that there may be huge deposits of oil at distances of 100 to 1 60 miles from the coast under 500 to 1000 fathoms of water and, perhaps, a mile or so of sedimentary rock overburden.The great oil‐bearing reef complex of the Reforma and Campeche shelf provinces of Mexico can be traced—with the exception of a few gaps—northward through the Gulf of Mexico and along the Atlantic continental margin of the United States, offering an attractive target for testing of oil potential, according to H. William Menard, director of the U.S.G.S.