The US is taking major steps towards drilling for oil off its coasts 鈥� but will it be worth it?
On Wednesday, a 27-year ban on oil and gas drilling off US coasts was lifted by the House of Representatives, and the Senate is now debating whether to follow suit so that oil companies can move in. (See Offshore oil drilling in the US: what鈥檚 at stake?)
Yet the oil and gas currently off-limits may not be plentiful, according to that compared deposits in the Gulf of Mexico that are open for drilling with off-limits reserves along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. The study found that if offshore drilling were allowed on both coasts as close as 5 kilometres from shore, oil production from the continental states, excluding Alaska, would only increase by 7 per cent by 2030. Further, the study found that due to the small and dispersed nature of the reserves, 鈥渁 significant portion of the resource would not be economically attractive to develop鈥�.
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鈥淭his whole 鈥楧rill baby, drill!鈥� campaign is a hoax,鈥� says Dan Weiss of the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning think tank. 鈥淢ost of the oil and gas off our shores is already available for production.鈥�
Yet the figures could be misleading. Nicholas Pardi of the US Department of the Interior鈥檚 Minerals Management Service notes that much of the area under moratorium hasn鈥檛 been surveyed since the 1970s, when sub-seafloor detection technology was still in its infancy. 鈥淲e estimated there were 9 billion barrels in the Gulf [of Mexico] in 1987 and now estimate 45 billion barrels there. With better technology we鈥檙e able to see reserves that we weren鈥檛 able to before.鈥�
Energy and Fuels 鈥� Learn more about the looming energy crisis in our comprehensive special report.
