Offshore oil business is gaining momentum again

The $1.2 billion Deepwater Titan sat idle in a Singapore shipyard for five years, looking like an abandoned cruise ship with a derrick attached to its deck. Soon, the ship, which straddles her nearly three of the football fields, sets off for the deepest waters of the Gulf of Mexico. There, the crew can drill eight miles below the seafloor for oil. chevron Ltd.

Fueled by soaring global energy demand, war-induced supply disruptions in Ukraine, and oil prices that remain above pre-pandemic levels, the search for offshore oil is again underway. Like Titan, other giant rigs dormant near the end of the last decade are now operating in deep water along Brazil’s coast. Meanwhile, unpropelled rigs are mining in shallow waters in the Middle East after hitchhiking to that part of the world. by tugboat.