As new projects come online, the Gulf of Mexico is churning out oil at record highs each year and for the first time will average 2 million barrels per day in 2020, the Houston Chronicle reports.
The U.S. Energy Department said Gulf crude output was a record-breaking 1.8 million barrels daily in 2018 and that production entered this year at 1.91 million barrels daily as Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron and others brought new platforms into production.
Current production is estimated at or just a shade below 2 million barrels daily. But the 2019 average will be closer to 1.9 million barrels because of storm outages that dipped production volumes at times.
However, even with the offshore growth, the Gulf will account for a smaller percentage of total U.S. oil output than before because onshore shale oil growth has risen at a faster pace. Read the full story.
