Offshore oil and gas in the Gulf of Mexico is a major source of oil and natural gas in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The western and central

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...

, which includes offshore Texas,

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

, and

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

, is one of the major petroleum-producing areas of the United States. Oil production from US federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico reached an all-time annual high of 1.65 million barrels per day in 2017. Oil production is expected to continue the upward trend in 2018 and 2019, based on ten new oil fields which are planned to start production in those years. According to the Energy Information Administration, "Gulf of Mexico federal offshore oil production accounts for 15% of total U.S.

crude oil production Petroleum is a fossil fuel that can be drawn from beneath the earth's surface. Reservoirs of petroleum was formed through the mixture of plants, algae, and sediments in shallow seas under high pressure. Petroleum is mostly recovered from oil dr ...

and federal offshore

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...

production in the Gulf accounts for 5% of total U.S. dry production." Major fields include Eugene Island block 330 oil field,

Atlantis Oil Field The Atlantis oil field is the third largest oil field in the Gulf of Mexico. The field was discovered in 1998 and is located at the Green Canyon blocks 699, 700, 742, 743, and 744 in United States federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico about from ...

, and the Tiber oilfield (discovered 2009). Notable oil platforms include Baldpate, Bullwinkle,

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Magnolia ''Magnolia'' is a large genus of about 210 to 340The number of species in the genus ''Magnolia'' depends on the taxonomic view that one takes up. Recent molecular and morphological research shows that former genera ''Talauma'', ''Dugandiodendro ...

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Petronius Gaius Petronius Arbiter"Gaius Petronius Arbiter"
Thunder Horse. Notable individual wells include

Jack 2 Jack 2 is a test well in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico (Walker Ridge Block 758) that successfully extracted oil from the Paleogene area of the Gulf in the second quarter of 2006. The field owners Chevron, Devon Energy and Norway's Statoi ...

and Knotty Head.

History of Gulf oil production

As technology has progressed over the years, oil companies have extended drilling and production farther and farther from shore, and into deeper and deeper waters. In 1937 Superior Oil of California and Pure Oil constructed a platform just over a mile from the shore at a depth of 13 feet. A year later, Humble Oil built a mile-long wooden trestle with railway tracks into the sea at McFadden Beach on the Gulf of Mexico, placing a derrick at its end - this was later destroyed by a hurricane. A platform was installed in a hundred feet of water for the first time in 1955; in two hundred feet of water in 1962; and in a thousand feet of water in 1979. "By 1970, the technology existed to drill in 2,000 feet of water and actual exploratory drilling was taking place at 1,400 feet." By 2009, more than 70% of Gulf of Mexico oil production came from wells drilled in depths greater than , almost double from the percentage ten years ago. The deepest water depth in which a discovery has been made is , at Lloyd Ridge 370 (Diamond). The federal government has not allowed drilling in federal waters in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, which includes offshore Florida and part of offshore Alabama, since 1995. In March 2010, President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

announced plans to allow drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, in federal waters greater than from the coasts of Alabama and Florida. In December 2010, following the ''Deepwater Horizon'' oil spill, the Obama administration reversed its plans to open the eastern Gulf, and imposed a moratorium on new drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico for at least seven years. In April 2016, the US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) issued final well control regulations to improve the effectiveness of offshore safety. In November 2021, the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management made available for auction, for the purpose of oil and gas production, about 80.9 million acres in federal lands located offshore in the Gulf of Mexico. These 80 million acres of available tracts represented the largest ever lease of oil and gas drilling leases in the United States. Of the 80 million acres up for auction, 1.7 million acres of drilling rights sold. The sales generated about $191 million in revenue for the government. Chevron was the largest buyer, spending $47.1 million, followed by Anadarko, BP, Royal Dutch Shell, and Exxon. Exxon's spending of $14.9 million represented the largest sale by acreage, including 94 shallow water tracts. For context, in January 2021, the new administration in the United States paused most new oil and gas leases on federal land. In response, a federal court in Louisiana issued an order in June 2021 that prompted the Biden administration to conduct the auction, but it was later determined that the order did not require the auction to be held. The timing was such that the auction was held about a week after the conclusion of a group of worldwide environmental talks known as

COP 26 The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, more commonly referred to as COP26, was the 26th United Nations Climate Change conference, held at the SEC Centre in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom, from 31 October to 13 November 2021. The ...

''Deepwater Horizon'' Oil Spill

The ''Deepwater Horizon'' oil spill began on April 20, 2010 when an

explosion An explosion is a rapid expansion in volume associated with an extreme outward release of energy, usually with the generation of high temperatures and release of high-pressure gases. Supersonic explosions created by high explosives are known ...

struck the rig, it occurred in the

on the BP-operated

Macondo Prospect The Macondo Prospect (Mississippi Canyon Block 252, abbreviated MC252) is an oil and gas prospect in the United States Exclusive Economic Zone of the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Louisiana. The prospect was the site of the ''Deepwater Horizo ...

. Killing eleven people, it is considered the largest marine

oil spill An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially the marine ecosystem, due to human activity, and is a form of pollution. The term is usually given to marine oil spills, where oil is released into th ...

in the history of the petroleum industry and sources estimated that between 134–206 million gallons of oil was released into the gulf. This oil spill was larger than the second largest oil spill at

Ixtoc I Ixtoc 1 was an exploratory oil well being drilled by the semi-submersible drilling rig ''Sedco 135'' in the Bay of Campeche of the Gulf of Mexico, about northwest of Ciudad del Carmen, Campeche in waters deep. On 3 June 1979, the well suffer ...

which released 140 million gallons of crude oil into the

Bay of Campeche The Bay of Campeche ( es, Bahía de Campeche), or Campeche Sound, is a bight (geography), bight in the southern area of the Gulf of Mexico, forming the north side of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. It is surrounded on three sides by the Mexico, Mexic ...

Production

In 2012, federal leases in the Gulf of Mexico produced of oil, which made up 19.5% of all U.S. oil production that year, and more than that of any U.S. state other than Texas. The 2012 production was less than the in 2009; however, due to new deep-water discoveries, the U.S.

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement The Minerals Management Service (MMS) was an agency of the United States Department of the Interior that managed the nation's natural gas, oil and other mineral resources on the outer continental shelf (OCS). Due to perceived conflict of intere ...

projects that oil production from the Gulf of Mexico will increase to per year by 2013.

Louisiana

The state of

issued its first offshore oil and gas lease in 1936, and the following year the

Pure Oil Company Pure Oil Company was an American petroleum company founded in 1914 and sold to what is now Union Oil Company of California in 1965. The Pure Oil name returned in 1993 as a cooperative (based in Rock Hill, South Carolina since 2008) which has grow ...

discovered the first Louisiana offshore oil field, the Creole Field, from the shore of Cameron Parish, from a platform built on

timber pilings Piling foundations support many historic structures such as canneries, wharves, and shore buildings. The old pilings present challenging problems during restoration as they age and are destroyed by organisms and decay. Replacing the foundation e ...

in water. Today, there are more than 4,000 production platforms and drilling rigs off the coast of Louisiana.

Texas

The first offshore well in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

was drilled in 1938, but the first oil discovery was not made until 1941, off Jefferson County. Through 2007, Texas state waters have produced of oil and . In 2007, Texas state waters produced of oil and condensate and gas.

Alabama

The first oil test in offshore

was made in Mobile Bay in 1951. The first discovery in state waters of offshore Alabama was made in 1979. By 2005 a total of 80 wells have been drilled in state water, and production in Alabama state water provided per year, half the state's gas production.

Florida

The eastern Gulf of Mexico, which includes offshore Gulf Coast

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, has never been a petroleum-producing area. From the 1950s to the 1990s, oil companies drilled exploratory wells off the Gulf Coast of Florida. Nineteen wells were drilled in state waters, and forty were drilled in federal waters.

Gulf Oil Gulf Oil was a major global oil company in operation from 1901 to 1985. The eighth-largest American manufacturing company in 1941 and the ninth-largest in 1979, Gulf Oil was one of the so-called Seven Sisters oil companies. Prior to its merger ...

drilled the first offshore Florida oil exploration wells in 1947, in state waters in

Florida Bay Florida Bay is the bay located between the southern end of the Florida mainland (the Florida Everglades) and the Florida Keys in the United States. It is a large, shallow estuary that while connected to the Gulf of Mexico, has limited exchange o ...

south of

Cape Sable Cape Sable is the southernmost point of the United States mainland and mainland Florida. It is located in southwestern Florida, in Monroe County, and is part of the Everglades National Park. The cape is a peninsula issuing from the southeast ...

Monroe County Monroe County may refer to seventeen counties in the United States, all named for James Monroe: * Monroe County, Alabama *Monroe County, Arkansas * Monroe County, Florida * Monroe County, Georgia *Monroe County, Illinois *Monroe County, Indian ...

. In 1956

Humble Oil Humble Oil and Refining Co. is a defunct American oil company founded in 1911 in Humble, Texas. In 1919, a 50% interest in Humble was acquired by the Standard Oil of New Jersey which acquired the rest of the company in September 1959. The Humble b ...

drilled an exploratory well in state waters of

Pensacola Bay Pensacola Bay is a bay located in the northwestern part of Florida, United States, known as the Florida Panhandle. The bay, an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico, is located in Escambia County and Santa Rosa County, adjacent to the city of Pensacol ...

Santa Rosa County Santa Rosa County is a county located in the northwestern portion of the U.S. state of Florida. As of 2020, the population is 188,000. The county seat is Milton, which lies in the geographic center of the county. Other major communities within ...

. In 1959 Gulf Oil drilled the first offshore Florida well drilled from an offshore platform, off the

Florida Keys The Florida Keys are a coral cay archipelago located off the southern coast of Florida, forming the southernmost part of the continental United States. They begin at the southeastern coast of the Florida peninsula, about south of Miami, and e ...

. All the wells drilled in state waters were dry holes. The first federal lease sale offshore Florida was in 1959. In the 1980s the state of Florida objected to further federal lease sales in offshore Florida, and the last one was held in 1985. Because of state objections, the federal government agreed to pay $200 million to nine oil companies to buy back leases south of 26 degrees north latitude. In the 1970s and early 1980s, oil companies drilled 16 wells on and around the Destin Dome, in federal waters off the

Florida Panhandle The Florida Panhandle (also West Florida and Northwest Florida) is the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Florida; it is a Salient (geography), salient roughly long and wide, lying between Alabama on the north and the west, Georgia (U. ...

; none were successful. Then from 1987 to 1995

Chevron Chevron (often relating to V-shaped patterns) may refer to: Science and technology * Chevron (aerospace), sawtooth patterns on some jet engines * Chevron (anatomy), a bone * '' Eulithis testata'', a moth * Chevron (geology), a fold in rock ...

made commercial gas discoveries on the Destin Dome off the coast. The discovery extended the Norphlet productive trend, which is highly productive in Alabama state waters in

Mobile Bay Mobile Bay ( ) is a shallow inlet of the Gulf of Mexico, lying within the state of Alabama in the United States. Its mouth is formed by the Fort Morgan Peninsula on the eastern side and Dauphin Island, a barrier island on the western side. The ...

. However, the state of Florida objected to plans to produce the deposits, and in May 2002, the US government agreed to buy back 7 leases from Chevron, Conoco, and Murphy Oil for $115 million. In 1947, the state of Florida issued a long-term oil and gas lease for state waters in the Gulf, stretching from

Apalachicola Bay Apalachicola may refer to: * Apalachicola people, a group of Native Americans who lived along the Apalachicola River in present-day Florida Places * Apalachicola, Florida *Apalachicola River * Apalachicola Bay * Apalachicola National Forest * Apa ...

in the north to

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in the south. The lease, which now belongs to Coastal Petroleum, was renegotiated in 1975 to leave Coastal with partial rights from from the shore, and full rights to state waters from from the shore. Florida has since banned offshore drilling in state waters, and has a long-running legal dispute with Coastal over Coastal's efforts to drill the offshore lease. Florida banned drilling in state waters in 1992, and has also opposed additional drilling in federal waters off Florida. However, in April 2009 three committees of the Florida House of Representatives approved a bill that would allow offshore drilling in state waters more than from shore. Because state waters extend only from shore on the east coast of Florida, the legislation would have affected only state waters on the Gulf coast of the state, where state waters extend out to from shore. The bill passed the Florida House in April 2009, but died soon after in the Florida Senate.

Natural gas hydrates

Natural gas hydrates have long been known to exist in sediments beneath the Gulf of Mexico. In May 2009 the

US Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, an ...

announced the discovery of thick natural gas hydrate deposits beneath the Gulf of Mexico that are recoverable by current technology.Significant gas resource discovered in U.S. Gulf of Mexico
U.S. Geological Survey, 29 May 2009. To date, natural gas from hydrates has not been produced from the Gulf of Mexico.

References

{{reflist, 2

External links

Map of wells drilled in federal waters, Gulf of Mexico
* Christopher D. French and Christopher J. Schenk, (1997
''Map Showing Geology, Oil and Gas Fields, and Geologic Provinces of the Gulf of Mexico Region''
US Geological Survey, Open-File Report OFR 97-470-L, PDF file, downloaded 24 January 2010. * Minerals Management Service
Map of active lease and infrastructure
PDF file.
map of oil and gas infrastructure in the GOMBureau of ocean management websiteInteractive map of oil and gas platforms and pipelines in the GOM
Gulf of Mexico Natural gas fields in the United States Petroleum in the United States