Today as we see the BP Deepwater Horizons Oil well leaking into the Gulf of Mexico it is wise to look back to the well that started it all. The first offshore oil well in America was not in the gulf, or even in a natural body of water, but instead in a reservoir in Ohio.
In 1837 a large reservoir was planned and built to support the new Miami and Erie Canal. Completed in 1845 the reservoir covered 17,500 acres with a maximum depth of seven feet. The man made lake was named Grand Lake St. Marys and was the larges man made body of water in the world for a time. Forty years later Ohio's oil boom would begin.
In 1884 a natural geologic formation known as the Lima-Indiana Trend was discovered. It stretched over 240 miles over Indiana and Ohio. It was rich with natural gas and oil. The first offshore rigs were built on Grand Lake St. Marys to pull oil from the ground which was seven feet below. By 1898 there was an abundance of wells in and around the lake.
Todays offshore wells can go quite deep. In the case of the Deepwater Horizons rig, the distance between the platform and the ground is an astonishing 35,050 feet. The rig is actually a floating vessel whereas the first rigs were build on platforms which set directly on the sea floor. As of this moment the Deepwater Horizons is the deepest well ever made, rendering every effort to stem the leak as a new and untested experience.
-Professor Walter
Comments