A Tour of Brutus, Shell's off-shore tension leg platform (TLP) 16 minutes

165 miles southwest of Louisana, Brutus operates in around 3000 feet of water, and produces oil and gas from target zones between 12,500 and 17,500 feet below the seabed. Brutus is a Tension-Leg Platform (TLP), tethered to the sea floor by tendons. (Yes, there's also a Popeye, and even a Bullwinkle)

This video gives a feel for the complexity of work involved in extracting crude oil from underwater deposits. When Matt Simmons talks about availability of rigs, think of the topside and hull you see here. When they say, "Drill, Baby, Drill!" answer, "Show Me the Rigs!" Some of the highly-touted newer deepwater finds are so much deeper that the pressures and temperatures involved have been compared to working in outer space.

Russia Prepares for New Era of Low-priced Oil 3 minutes

"The era of record profits from oil and gas is over - that's according to Russia's Finance Minister Alexey Kudrin. 2008 is likely to be the year of peak oil and gas production in the country."

So Russia expects to be hit by a double whammy of less oil to sell, and lower prices to sell it.