one expects another Prudhoe Bay off 

 the North Carolina coast. The draft 

 Environmental Impact Statement 

 issued for Lease Sale 78 estimates 

 (based on U.S. Geological Survey in- 

 formation) that if the area leased is 

 hydrocarbon productive, a mean total 

 of 228 million barrels of oil and 860 

 billion cubic feet of natural gas may be 

 discovered. In 1980, Americans used 

 over 15 million barrels of oil a day — 

 more than a fourth of the worldwide 

 production of 60 million barrels a day. 



But Waldorf is hesitant to put much 

 stock in estimated production rates. 

 "We won't know what's out there until 

 we drill," she says. But she points out 

 oil companies are willing to put out 

 millions of dollars to buy leases (as a 



consortium Mobil, Amerada Hess and 

 Marathon Oil paid over $103 million 

 for a single tract) to find out. And she 

 estimates to explore a lease will cost 

 another $25 million per exploratory 

 well. 



But even if oil and gas are dis- 

 covered it would be another 10 years 

 before actual production would begin, 

 Waldorf predicts. And she stresses that 

 substantial quantities of oil and gas 

 would have to be found to justify the 

 high cost of production — $160 million 

 to build a platform and $1 million a 

 mile to build a pipeline to transport 

 the hyrdocarbons landward. 



And the possibility remains that 

 nothing will be found. Six wells drilled 

 in the Georgia Embayment turned up 



dry. But sediment layers there were 

 shallow. Waldorf says even if the first 

 Chevron well is dry, the geologic infor- 

 mation gleaned from the attempt 

 could direct future drillings to more 

 profitable areas. 



Right now geologists and oil com- 

 panies are depending on seismic 

 studies to direct their exploration. 

 Drucker and Riggs say there is a 

 greater likelihood of turning up gas 

 than oil. Riggs says gas is more easily 

 produced in nature and more gas has 

 been discovered in East Coast basins 

 than oil. But Woodard disagrees. "We 

 feel that this will be a good oppor- 

 tunity to find significant quantities of 

 oil," he says. 



—Kathy Hart 



CAROLINA PLATFORM CAROLINA TROUGH , CONTINENTAL RISE 



50 100 150 MILES 



COAST 

 LINE 



A cross section 



Within the Carolina Trough, the Jurassic reef and 

 diapirs (salt domes) seem most likely to hold oil. The 

 trough formed as Africa and America split apart dur- 

 ing the Triassic period. Deposits of sediment mounted 

 on the rift stage crust, eventually burying the coral 

 reef. (Adapted from map by Minerals Management 

 Service) 



