Offshore Oil and Deepwater Horizon: Social Effects on Gulf Coast Communities Volume II: Key Economic Sectors, NGOs, and Ethnic Groups.

摘要

The Gulf basin has produced substantial petroleum discoveries for more than nine decades. At the time of the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, more than 3,600 fixed petroleum structures were in place and producing oil and gas in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico in water depths ranging from a few to more than 8,000 feet and as far as 200 miles off of the coastlines of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama (Figure 1.1). Offshore production in the Gulf of Mexico accounted for close to one-third of total U.S. crude oil production and 12% of total U.S. natural gas production (Energy Information Administration 2011a), a drop from recent years. Of note, total crude oil production on the outer continental shelf has fluctuated considerably since the late 1970s (Figure 1.2). After a period of growth in the 1990s, production began declining early in the 21st century, but then discoveries of giant fields in the deep waters off the outer continental shelf and in the submarine canyons closer to shore boosted that production.