Offshore oil and gas in the Gulf of Mexico (United States)

The western and central Gulf of Mexico, which includes offshore Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, is one of the major petroleum-producing areas of the United States.

Oil production from US federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico reached an all-time annual high of 1.65 million barrels per day in 2017.

Notable oil platforms include Baldpate, Bullwinkle, Mad Dog, Magnolia, Mars, Petronius, and Thunder Horse.

A year later, Humble Oil built a mile-long wooden trestle with railway tracks into the sea at McFadden Beach on the Gulf of Mexico, placing a derrick at its end - this was later destroyed by a hurricane.

"[5] By 2009, more than 70% of Gulf of Mexico oil production came from wells drilled in depths greater than 1,000 feet (300 m), almost double from the percentage ten years ago.

In March 2010, President Barack Obama announced plans to allow drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, in federal waters greater than 125 miles (201 km) from the coasts of Alabama and Florida.

[10] In November 2021, the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management made available for auction, for the purpose of oil and gas production, about 80.9 million acres in federal lands located offshore in the Gulf of Mexico.

[11][12][13] The Deepwater Horizon oil spill began on April 20, 2010 when an explosion struck the rig, it occurred in the Gulf of Mexico on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect.

[25] In 1956 Humble Oil drilled an exploratory well in state waters of Pensacola Bay, Santa Rosa County.

Because of state objections, the federal government agreed to pay $200 million to nine oil companies to buy back leases south of 26 degrees north latitude.

However, the state of Florida objected to plans to produce the deposits, and in May 2002, the US government agreed to buy back 7 leases from Chevron, Conoco, and Murphy Oil for $115 million.

However, in April 2009 three committees of the Florida House of Representatives approved a bill that would allow offshore drilling in state waters more than 3 miles (4.8 km) from shore.

In May 2009 the US Geological Survey announced the discovery of thick natural gas hydrate deposits beneath the Gulf of Mexico that are recoverable by current technology.