03/30/10 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – By the time you read this, I’ll be at sea in the Gulf of Mexico. I will have taken off from an airport near New Orleans in a helicopter, and flown south for over two hours. The distance will be well over 200 miles, toward a spot in the open ocean where the water depth is over 7,000 feet…
The idea is for the pilot to circle into the wind, and put the helicopter down on the deck of the vessel pictured below. Here she is, in all her haze gray glory. Meet the Transocean Discoverer Inspiration.
What is this floating giant? In the big scheme of things, Inspiration is the future of the world’s oil supply. Inspiration, and other ships much like her, is the great, gray hope for anyone who plans to use liquid hydrocarbons anytime in the next 50 or 100 years. If you use oil, then you had better want this baby to work as advertised…
There’s a new deep-sea gold rush going on, except the prize is oil. Inspiration is among the vanguard of a new class of technology. The designers have been building ’em bigger, stronger and more powerful. The ships can lift more, string longer drill systems, go farther down and find the really hard stuff.
Inspiration is among the largest drilling vessels ever to hit the water, and oh, what a career is laid out for her. In case you missed it, the future is now.
Byron King
for The Daily Reckoning
Byron King
Byron King is the managing editor of Outstanding Investments and Energy & Scarcity Investor. He is a Harvard-trained geologist who has traveled to every U.S. state and territory and six of the seven continents. He has conducted site visits to mineral deposits in 26 countries and deep-water oil fields in five oceans. This provides him with a unique perspective on the myriad of investment opportunities in energy and mineral exploration. He has been interviewed by dozens of major print and broadcast media outlets including The Financial Times, The Guardian, The Washington Post, MSN Money, MarketWatch, Fox Business News, and PBS Newshour.
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Byron,
How lucky you are to have a chance to spend time on this amazing ship.
Peace.