Offshore crude oil extraction, including deepwater, is closing in on shale in terms of cost thanks to new production technologies, a senior Chevron executive said at an industry event, as quoted by Bloomberg. The company is laying pump networks on the ocean floor, connecting new wells with already installed platforms, cutting its costs considerably and bringing deepwater oil closer to competing with shale on an equal footing, vice president for upstream, Jay Johnson, said during a presentation at the Scotia Howard Weil Conference in Louisiana. The upbeat attitude is not limited to Chevron executives, either. Transocean’s chief executive, Jeremy Thigpen, said that at the moment, most of the 29 deepwater oil projects in the Gulf of Mexico have a breakeven level of between US$40 and US$45 a barrel. Deepwater exploration was the object of much lament during the downturn as it is traditionally costlier than onshore conventional and shale […]