They had been looking for oil and lacked the technology back then to extract gas from waters more than 3000 feet deep, or pipe it ashore for conversion to LNG.
Terahertz light - which lies between infrared light like that used by remote controls and the microwaves in the appliance of the same name - has become popular in scanning technology at airports and museums' back rooms because it can extract information without risk of damage.
The news is reminiscent of the discovery made in Switzerland a couple of years back that pumping water deep into hot rocks to extract geothermal energy can also cause earthquakes.
Meanwhile, back in North America, new techniques were being developed to extract oil and natural gas from shale formations deep underground, from tar sands in Canada, and from deep water in the Gulf of Mexico.
The White House, with the aid of contractors, will have to go back through those tapes -- perhaps six months worth -- to extract the missing e-mail messages.