Offshore staff
WASHINGTON, D.C. –The US Energy Information Administration expects oil production in the Gulf of Mexico to continue increasing through 2016. Because of the long lead times associated with Gulf of Mexico projects, EIA said the recent downturn in oil prices is expected to have minimal direct impact on GoM crude oil production.
EIA projectsGoM production to reach 1.52 MMb/d in 2015 and 1.61 MMb/d in 2016, or about 16% and 17% of total US crude oil production in those two years, respectively. The forecasted production growth is driven both by new projects and the redevelopment and expansion of older producing fields.
The relatively high number of fields that came online in 2014 and are scheduled for 2015 and 2016 production start-ups reflects the revival of interest and activity in the GoM following the moratorium on deepwater drilling after the 2010Deepwater Horizonincident, said EIA.
Thirteen fields are expected to start up in the next two years, eight in 2015, and five in 2016. More than half of the projects starting up in 2015 and 2016 will be subsea tiebacks to existing production platforms.
03/04/2015
