The Houston Chronicle reports that “seven decades after oil companies first bored wells beneath the Gulf of Mexico, it retains its allure, as recent discoveries tempt the industry with the prospect of pulling crude from 200-million-year-old rock buried miles below the seafloor.”  

“The Gulf’s appeal is so strong that it anchors many oil companies’ portfolios, despite an onshore drilling boom that is putting rigs to work from North Dakota to West Texas.”  

“‘This basin keeps reinventing itself,’ said University of Texas-Austin geologist John Snedden. ‘We keep finding new plays. And that’s why everybody’s here.'”  

“The oil riches of the Gulf and coastal territories around the globe draw tens of billions in oil company investment – and they’re drawing tens of thousands of industry professionals to this week’s Offshore Technology Conference in Houston.”