Nearly a third of oil produced in 2015 was offshore

Nearly a third of global oil production in 2015 came from offshore drilling. It reached the highest point last year since 2010, after increases in 2014 and 2015 reversed the […]

Nearly a third of global oil production in 2015 came from offshore drilling.

It reached the highest point last year since 2010, after increases in 2014 and 2015 reversed the decline between 2010 and 2013, according to a new report from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).

More than 27 million barrels of oil were produced offshore in 2015 across more than 50 different countries. Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Mexico, Norway and the US produced 43% of it.

Saudi Arabia is responsible for 13% of global offshore production, making it the world’s largest offshore producer. The Safaniya oil field is the highest producing offshore field in the world, pumping out up to one and a half million barrels per day.

The EIA says Brazil’s offshore production grew by 58% between 2005 and 2015, making it the second largest offshore producer in 2015.

Mexico and Norway’s offshore production fell by around 30% from 2005 to 2015, but they have still each produced nearly two million barrels per day in 2015, accounting for 7% of global offshore production.

The US has seen recent strong production in the Gulf of Mexico, growing by 6.5% between 2005 to 2015.

With several large projects coming online in 2016 and 2017, the Gulf of Mexico is expected to see offshore daily production climb by about 0.3 million barrels over the next two years, contrasting with forecasts that US onshore daily production will fall by 1.1 million barrels over the same period.

The role of oil and other fossil fuels will be part of the discussions at the Energy Live 2016 conference in London today.

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