U.S. Offshore Oil Production On Track for New Records

Crude oil production in the U.S Gulf of Mexico hit 1.8 million bpd in 2018, setting a new annual record. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) predicts that the industry will set new production records in 2019, despite the temporary shut-ins related to Hurricane Barry in July.

Based on EIA’s latest forecasting, annual crude oil production in the GOM will increase incrementally to 1.9 million bpd this year and 2.0 million bpd in 2020, setting further new records. However, with onshore production booming, the offshore sector will account for only 15 percent of the U.S. total over the next two years - down from about 23 percent eight years ago. 

U.S. offshore producers expect eight new projects to come online in 2019, and four more are slated for 2020, according to Rystad Energy. EIA expects these projects to contribute about 45,000 bpd in 2019 and about 190,000 bpd in 2020 as they ramp up production. Except for Shell's Appomattox project, which came online in May, every one of these new developments is a subsea tieback to an existing production platform - a low-cost method of developing new fields with....