Recent economic news, coupled with the recent buoyancy in crude oil prices, has started to inject a degree of optimism about the opportunities for a rebound in offshore Gulf of Mexico crude oil and natural gas activity, LSU Center for Energy Studies Executive Director David Dismukes writes in his latest column for 10/12 Industry Report.
Unfortunately, Dismukes contends, it is unlikely that GOM offshore oil and gas activity will return to levels experienced in the past due to a number of structural changes that are intertied with the emergence of unconventional oil and natural gas development.
“While it is true that unconventional wells can be drilled quicker, often easier, and less expensively than their offshore counterparts, this only explains a part of the structural change in the offshore GOM,” Dismukes writes. “A close review of historic drilling rig activity and production numbers helps to explain a larger part of this structural shift.”
