DESIRE petroleum gets going at long last !

karateboy.. worth a read...a very old repost.

During late 1981 an obscure document was circulated around the senior staff of a large British multinational oil company. The data it contained was staggering and details swiftly leaked. In a recently completed comprehensive seismic survey of the Falkland Islands continental shelf, realistic estimates indicated oil reserves more than ten times larger than those in Saudi Arabia. For anyone with the wealth to exploit the reserves, the magnitude of the prize was almost beyond comprehension.

That the seismic was accurate was proved beyond doubt by the mid 1980s,by which time Argentina had proven reserves of more than four billion barrels on its Patagonian coast directly opposite the Falkland Islands. With the continent shelving downwards out to sea, calculations indicated Falkland Islands reserves easily as massive as those predicted in the 1981 document.
During 1982 many Britons wondered aloud at the sheer compassion of their government, which sent an entire battle fleet to evict the Argentines who, it was rumoured, were indecently assaulting a few hundred Falklands sheep farmers. It was democracy at its best and countless thousands of patriotic Britons cheered the QEII as she cleared the harbour at Southampton laden with troops for the fight in the South Atlantic.
Democracy? The British government had probably forgotten the sheep farmers a generation before, but it knew about the oil reserves, as did the Argentines. Those oilmen familiar with the startling contents of the seismic report watched the display of patriotic fervour with stunned amazement. Did the British public really believe a massive battle fleet was being sent to rescue a few thousand sheep, and the Falklands' sagging economy?
The British oil multinational was excited at the prospect of total oil self-sufficiency and the resulting ability to bypass the Middle East completely.