Houston Chronicle:
Delays in offshore drilling prompted by the Deepwater Horizon disaster could curb oil production over the next decade, according to an industry- sponsored report that predicts the slowdown jeopardizes as much as 680,000 barrels of oil equivalent each day in 2019.
The study, produced by the energy research firm Wood Mackenzie for the American Petroleum Institute, also concludes that because of regulations imposed since last year's oil spill and delays in getting offshore drilling permits, a third of deep-water Gulf of Mexico fields could cost more to produce than they would generate in revenue.
Kyle Isakower, the institute's vice president of economic and regulatory policy, said during a briefing with reporters Tuesday that the delays represent "a major threat to Gulf region jobs and to the nation's energy security."
The industry and its supporters have been pressuring the Obama administration to speed up approvals for offshore projects. Although the administration lifted a ban on deep-water exploration in October, federal regulators have not yet approved any new wells that would have been blocked by that moratorium.
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This is the administration's passive aggressive moratorium replacing the illegal de jure Moratorium proclaimed during the spill. The have been twice ordered to lift the moratorium by a federal court, but they have lifted it only in name while they continue to block development of the deep water wells and many shallow water wells too. The companies who are losing millions of dollars as a result of the delay should seek sanctions against the administration and Ken Salazar in particular for this egregious conduct.
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