adjustable anchor systems will also become avail- 

 able. 



All of these deeper-water drilling problems are 

 presently under study within tlie petroleum indus- 

 try. The fact that several leases off southern 

 California have just recently been bought in up to 

 1,800 feet of water suggests that we may see such 

 deep-water drilling within the near future. 



C. Future of Production 



Drilling and exploration capabilities appear to 

 be more advanced for deep-water areas than are 

 the production capabilities; this is certainly to 

 be expected since exploration and drilling must 

 necessarily precede production. Fixed production 

 platforms have been installed in 340 feet of water 

 and some engineers believe that such platforms are 

 practical throughout the Continental Shelf to 

 water depths of at least 600 feet. Other engineers 

 believe that sea-floor completions will ultimately 

 be more practical and more economical beyond 

 water depths of about 350 feet. 



Several sea-floor well completions have already 

 been made, as noted earlier, and again it would 

 probably be possible with present technology to 

 complete wells in great water depths in the near 

 future if economics were not critical. The industry 

 has already devoted considerable effort toward 

 studying and developing methods for sea-floor well 

 completions, production and gathering techniques, 

 separation, treatment and storage facilities. This 

 work is actively continuing. 



It is difficult to predict which deep-water 

 system will ultimately prove to be most practical, 

 but it is likely that several different techniques will 

 be employed. Many studies and successful tests 

 have already been made for servicing underwater 

 wells with remotely-controlled televiewing robots, 

 with "through-the-flowline" treatment tools, with 

 hydraulically controlled surface lines, and with 

 acoustically controlled valving systems operating 

 from conventional and nuclear energy sources. The 

 use of divers is being extensively investigated and 

 long-term studies are already underway regarding 

 the usefulness of a variety of submersibles. 



Submersibles capable of doing useful work have 

 been developed by private industry, and most of 

 them were developed entirely with private funds. 

 This is also true of manned diving capabiUties. 

 Recently a private diving firm demonstrated that 



useful work could be done at water depths in 

 excess of 1 ,000 feet. It appears that a large part of 

 the impetus for such private developments has 

 been the stimulus, future need, and encourage- 

 ment provided by the petroleum industry. 



D. Future of Transportation 



The cost of offshore pipelines is very much 

 higher than similar facilities onshore. However, 

 where such costs become prohibitive, surface 

 transportation by barge or tanker is already 

 economical, at least for crude oil. The major 

 problem is providing economical offshore storage 

 and loading facilities. Isolated offshore production 

 facilities are being studied by industry and a 

 variety of types have been successfully installed in 

 several parts of the world. Undoubtedly, the 

 future wiU bring significant improvement in the 

 technology and economics of such production 

 facilities, as well as in methods for sea-floor and 

 sub-bottom storage. 



Offshore natural gas presents a distinctly more 

 difficult problem since gas pipelines are larger, 

 more expensive, and more difficult to lay than are 

 petroleum lines. The only method to transport 

 natural gas by barge is with a complicated and 

 expensive cryogenic system capable of reducing 

 the gas to a Uquid, which would also require large 

 and expensive offshore installations. In both in- 

 stances the technology is largely already available, 

 but the economics of both are apt to be prohibi- 

 tive. It is difficult to predict what future advances 

 might become available to allow production of 

 natural gas from great water depths or great 

 distances from the shore. 



E. Pollution Control and Prevention 



The petroleum industry appears to be seriously 

 concerned about water pollution problems of all 

 types. It is presently investing large amounts of 

 money in research on pollution control and 

 prevention and in actual improvements and modi- 

 fications of equipment and operating techniques. 

 There is no doubt that the Nation's desire to 

 control marine pollution within acceptable limits 

 is important and should receive high priority in the 

 National oceanic program. 



Careful joint studies have been made in the 

 past— by the industry and the Federal Govern- 



VII-219 



