Nearly three football fields long, the ship appears to be sitting idle on the turquoise blue waters of the Gulf of Mexico, perhaps even abandoned.

Beneath the deck, there's no such tranquility. A 200-person crew of geologists, engineers and technicians work around the clock at dimly lit keyboards, controlling every move of an adjoining oil rig as it uses an 16{-inch (41-centimeter) pipe to bore through the ocean floor.

The Chevron Corp. crew is developing a deepwater oil field 190 miles (305 kilometers) off the Louisiana coast projected to produce 100,000 barrels a day by 2008 and 500 million barrels overall. Each well willreach more than 26,000 feet (7,800 meters) below sea level.

It's the kind of deepwater discovery once thought to be out of reach, but with improved technology and climbing global oil prices, companies are spending billions developing oil fields the Interior Department says will substantially boost Gulf production.

Deepwater exploration _ done in depths of 1,000 feet (300 meters) of water or greater _ is also volatile, as companies face increasing development costs, a battle with the federal government over royalty payments and continued rig shortages

Gross display of power!

The thrusters help the ship withstand 20-foot (6-meter) waves, 80 mile(130-kilometer)-an-hour winds, and currents that would prevent traditional rigs from operating. The amount of power used to keep the ship stationary and drilling would light up 40,000 homes.

Another interesting tid-bit

Already there is an almost four-year waiting for drilling ships, according to a recent report energy consultant Howard Weil. The backlog prompted Chevron to have Transocean build another ship, to be ready in three years.

-C.