In stark contrast to the upsurge in activity in Mexican waters, the oil and gas industry is steadily winding down in the US Gulf, as mature fields in this vast sea are progressively decommissioned. Long one of the most important petroleum production areas in the world, in part because many of the fields lie in shallow continental-shelf waters, exploration will progressively give way to 'decom', requiring a different kind of expertise on the part of the offshore support industry. That is especially true of platforms located in deep water, most of which were established after the easier fields nearer the shore were exhausted.
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