The Future of Scientific Drilling

Abstract

Speculating about the future is always a risky business. One’s only real guide is past experience augmented by assumptions about technical, financial and societal constraints that are likely to impose boundary conditions. If past experience is brief, as it is for Continental Scientific Drilling, speculation is doubly uncertain. However, unless one speculates about the future one can not plan effectively and in scientific drilling, where individual projects may last many years, planning is both essential and complex. I propose therefore to share my perceptions of the future of Continental Scientific Drilling with you in the hope that they may furnish a basis for discussion and that discussion may help us to focus more surely on the dimensions of the future. I gratefully acknowledge the help of all the many colleagues with whom I have discussed these matters over the last few years.