Unlike the Tahiti Field--where the production well was being put in place from the deck of a ship--the Jack Field was drilled from a floating platform, Transocean's Cajun Express. According to Chip Minty, a spokesman for Devon, the stability of a moored platform reduces the risk of a break in the well pipes due to weather. It is also "ten to fifteen percent less expensive" to build and operate than a full-fledged ship, which keeps itself in place with multiple props--a major savings when a drill ship can cost $500,000 a day to lease and operate.

The consortium and other operators in the region are still trying to figure out how to get the oil from the platforms to refineries onshore. The choice is between a pipeline and shuttle tankers. Once in place, a pipeline is reliable and high-volume, but it also is an enormously challenging undertaking at such depths due to pressure and temperature issues. Specially insulated pipes are required to handle the hot oil as it emerges onto the freezing sea floor. And, in fact, barges capable of laying the necessary quantities of pipeline at such depth haven't even been built yet, according to Hadden.

Shuttle tankers are already at work in deep water fields off West Africa, but have yet to be tried in the Gulf. And this approach would require the construction of an enormous Floating Production Storage and Offloading System.

Promising early results from other wells located in this area of the Gulf of Mexico, known as the Lower Tertiary Formation, make it likely that technology and production will continue to advance hand in hand.