Digging deeper

The Gulf of Mexico is holding its own as the hub of energy industry activity in the US. Having turned their attention to deep and ultra-deep waters, with some spectacular results, exploration and production companies are returning to the Outer Continental Shelf to probe deep beneath already exploited horizons. Anne Feltus reports

About a fifth of the natural gas produced in the US comes from the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), the gently sloping undersea plain that extends from the continent to the deep ocean. If this trend continues, the US Minerals Management Service (MMS) expects Gulf of Mexico (GoM) gas production to fall from 11.98bn cubic feet a day (cf/d) this year to 9.86bn cf/d in 2007. Even if new technology is developed to help offset the declining rates from shallow-water fields, production would still slip from 13.03bn cf/d in 2003 to 12.51bn cf/d in 2007, the federal agency predicts. Deep gas discoveries New discoveries of deep gas on the OCS offer the best short-term opportunity for achieving the large