Mitchell Colgan, chairman of the College of Charleston’s Geology and Environmental Geosciences Department, said if waters off South Carolina held promising oil or gas reserves, there already would be rigs out there.

“All of the mineral management studies of this area off the coast of South Carolina have shown that there are no oil reservoirs,” he said.

http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20130719/PC16/130719340/1006/tim-scott-mark-sanford-wade-into-offshore-drilling-debate-in-south-carolina