Poll reveals top GoM challenges: Regulations, costs, infrastructure
Offshore recently polled its readers over a two-week period (Oct. 27-Nov. 10) to assess the biggest offshore oil and gas drilling and production challenges in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM). Of the 106 poll respondents, the majority voted that regulations/policy, operational costs/inflation and aging infrastructure were the top three struggles operators are facing.
The poll results were as follows:
| Regulatory uncertainty and policy shifts | 24.53% |
| Rising operational costs and inflation | 21.7% |
| Aging infrastructure and asset integrity risks | 20.75% |
| Diminishing reserve sizes | 13.21% |
| Contractor availability, scheduling delays and supply chain constraints | 8.49% |
| Environmental regulations and permitting constraints | 7.55% |
| High-pressure/high-temperature (HP/HT) reserves | 3.77% |
Offshore is an international resource for the offshore energy industry; thus, our audience and poll participants reflect a worldwide representation of the sector. For this poll, however, 77% of the participants were from the US (55% of which were from Texas and 35% from Louisiana). The rest of the poll respondents were from Angola, Australia, Brazil, Czech Republic, Guyana and Nigeria (about 4% each).
The majority of poll respondents (30.77%) identified themselves as belonging to a consulting company engaged in projects or providing services to oil and/or gas companies. Another 15% of participants said they were with a service company. To name a few, some respondents hailed from Beacon Offshore, Shell, Transocean, Falcon Oil, Exmar, Helix Energy Services, Yinson Production, the US Department of Conservation and Energy, Superior Energy, Pathfinder Oil & Gas, and SLB, among many other companies.
Most of the individuals (38.46%) identified themselves as executive management (CEO, president, COO, owner, VP, managing director, etc.), while another significant chunk of the group (15.38%) said they were engineers. Nearly 12% said they were in management roles (production manager, engineering manager, exploration manager, etc.), and almost another 12% held consulting titles. The rest of the poll respondents held various positions, from financial personnel and technology executives to field professionals and purchasing managers/agents.
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About the Author
Ariana Hurtado
Editor-in-Chief
With more than a decade of copy editing, project management and journalism experience, Ariana Hurtado is a seasoned managing editor born and raised in the energy capital of the world—Houston, Texas. She currently serves as editor-in-chief of Offshore, overseeing the editorial team, its content and the brand's growth from a digital perspective.
Utilizing her editorial expertise, she manages digital media for the Offshore team. She also helps create and oversee new special industry reports and revolutionizes existing supplements, while also contributing content to Offshore's magazine, newsletters and website as a copy editor and writer.
Prior to her current role, she served as Offshore's editor and director of special reports from April 2022 to December 2024. Before joining Offshore, she served as senior managing editor of publications with Hart Energy. Prior to her nearly nine years with Hart, she worked on the copy desk as a news editor at the Houston Chronicle.
She graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Houston.