Offshore oil production is finally rebounding from the moratorium and “permitorium” that President Obama instituted in 2010 when the Deepwater Horizon accident occurred in the Gulf of Mexico. Production from offshore oil fields is partially offsetting declining output from shale regions onshore where oil producers have cut back production due to lower oil prices.
Offshore oil production in 2015 was just 1.3 percent below its 2009 peak and is expected to exceed that peak this year and next, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Because it can take 7 to 10 years or more to start an offshore oil field, a number of large oil fields under development years ago are just now beginning to pump oil. Companies are also finding that smaller satellite fields can be tapped relatively cheaply by linking them to existing offshore oil platforms by way of underwater pipelines.
