BP Plans Deeper Drilling for Offshore Oil Despite Ruling: Energy
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Even as it faces $50 billion in potential liabilities from the worst U.S. offshore oil spill, BP Plc is leading the effort to extract crude from deep below the sea, a place as extreme and inhospitable as the surface of Mars.
BP, Chevron Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc are among companies developing a new generation of oilfield technology to reach through more than seven miles of water and rock, where temperatures can reach 400 degrees Fahrenheit (200 degrees Celsius) and the pressure hits 20,000 pounds per square inch -- and to do it safely.