Still a behemoth, Gulf fuel production drops

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The Gulf of Mexico was the source of more than two-thirds of crude oil extracted from federal grounds in 2013, but its overall fossil-fuel yield continues to wane, according to a federal report.

The Gulf’s maturing natural gas plays have contributed most to the source’s continued plummet in overall fossil-fuel production, though a decline in crude-oil production is also noted in a U.S. Energy Information Agency report looking at fossil fuels produced on federal and Indian land s over the past decade.


The report did not count production on private land.

Fossil fuel production in federal Gulf waters has declined from roughly 7.5 trillion British thermal units in 2003 to less than 4 trillion Btu last year. For context: Wyoming posted nearly 8.5 trillion Btu in fossil fuel production from federal/Indian lands in 2013, and all other states combined to produce about 4.5 trillion Btu.

The Gulf’s decline in natural gas production has been stark. In 2003, nearly 4,250 billion cubic feet were produced. Last year’s return was just greater than 1,000 billion cubic feet, less than a quarter of what gas fields produced 10 years earlier.


Production of natural gas liquids in the federal Gulf, meanwhile, have declined but not at the same pace, from about 48 million barrels in 2003 to roughly 42 million barrels last year. It spiked at nearly 60 million barrels in 2004 and approached 55 million barrels in 2010.

Crude oil production in the federal Gulf has proven to vary wildly from year to year over the past decade. It hit a low in 2005 at roughly 425 million barrels before spiking at more than 575 million barrels in 2010 and slinking to less than 450 million barrels last year.

Still, the Gulf remains one of the primary drivers of energy production on federal lands. Its harvest, coupled with federal lands in Wyoming, where coal production far outpaces all other federal properties, comprised 73 percent of all fossil fuel production from federal sources in 2013.


And industry advocates have said they anticipate a protracted boom in deep-water Gulf oil production as companies follow through on exploration and development projects delayed by the regulatory fallout of the 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon disaster. According to a count by HIS, 114 rigs were on supply in the Gulf of Mexico last week, with 89.8 percent being utilized.

The full report is available at eia.gov.