Woodmac: Record production ahead for U.S. Gulf of Mexico

Energy intelligence group Wood Mackenzie expects to see a record production from the U.S. Gulf of Mexico in 2018.

In a podcast released on Thursday, William Turner, Woodmac’s Senior Research analyst said he expected the U.S. Gulf of Mexico to reach an all time record this year. Furthermore, Woodmac goes a year further, with Turner saying that production record could be broken again in 2019.

“In 2018 we expect to see nearly 2 million barrels equivalent per day, with about 80 percent being oil.”

Turner said that for 2018 the fields that will be driving almost half of the growth are one new field, Stampede, which Wood Mackenzie expects to see coming online “any day now,” and five others that are expansions of legacy fields of Gulf of Mexico.

The Stampede field is operated by Hess. The oil company has installed the giant Stampede platform to its location in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico in preparation for the first oil in 2018.  The field has total estimated recoverable resources in excess of 300 million barrels of oil equivalent.

What about 2020?

However, while 2018 and 2019 are expected to be big producers, Turner sees production starting to fall off in 2020 if investment doesn’t return to the region.

As for the exploration activity in 2018, Wood Mackenzie expects it to be conservative, with much of the drilling happening near the existing infrastructure, with a bit higher success rates but less significant volumes being found.

Listen to the full podcast to hear more on the future of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, what policies need to be put in place to make the region competitive, how high oil prices can hurt the activity in the GoM, what about royalties, high-pressure developments, etc…

Offshore Energy Today Staff