Offshore drilling for oil and gas on the Atlantic coast of the United States lasted from 1947 to early 1980s. Oil companies drilled five wells in the waters of the Atlantic state of Florida and 51 exploration wells on federal leases offshore Atlantic shore. No wells are completed as production wells. All rentals have now been returned to the government.
Although no oil or gas is produced from under the Atlantic waters of the US, there are active offshore fields in the south off the coast of Cuba and north off the coast of Canada.
Every US state along the Atlantic coast has territorial waters up to three nautical miles (3.45 laws, or miles of land) from the shore at low tide, and has jurisdiction to decide whether or not, and in what way, to renting the region for oil and gas. The federal government owns and controls minerals between three to 200 nautical miles (370 km) from the coast.
In keeping with the congressional restrictions and presidential orders, there is no federal lease that took place on the Atlantic coast off the coast of the United States since the early 1980s. The federal government has scheduled the lease sale for offshore Virginia, which will take place in 2011, and in March 2010, President Barack Obama announced his intention to open the Central Atlantic and Atlantic region planning for oil and gas exploration. However, the lease sale plan was canceled in May 2010 following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. In December 2010, Home Secretary Ken Salazar announced a ban on drilling in federal waters off the Atlantic coast until 2017.
Video Offshore drilling on the Atlantic coast of the United States
Backup
No oil or gas is produced from the Atlantic continental shelves of the U.S. Several gas discoveries were made by Tenneco, Texaco, and Exxon in shallow waters in New Jersey, but this was considered uneconomical at the time, and never produced.
A 2012 study by the Bureau of Marine Energy Management (BOEM) (part of the US Department of the Interior) estimates oil and gas resources that have not been found technically in the Atlantic waters to 3.30 billion barrels of oil (Bbo) and 31.28 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) gas. It represents about 4% of the estimated total of recoverable oil resources and 8% of the estimated total of recoverable gas sources in US federal waters.
Maps Offshore drilling on the Atlantic coast of the United States
Florida Strait
Five wells were drilled in Florida waters in the Florida Strait (in Florida Keys waters) from 1946 to 1962. Gulf Oil operated three wells in the waters of the southern Florida Key states in 1959, 1960 and 1961, while Chevron (Calco) and Sinclair respectively operate one. The wells are considered dry holes, however, oil exhibits found in all wells and live oils are tested in the 826Y-1 Rent Country.
The boundary between the US and Cuba Exclusive Economic Zone is midway between Cuba and Florida, as determined by 1977 Mode vivendi between the US and Cuba.
Cuba Offshore
Cuba has three offshore oil fields within 5 km of the north coast across from Florida. The US Geological Survey estimates that the Northern Cuban Basin contains 5.5 billion barrels (870,000,000 m 3 ) of undiscovered petroleum fluid and 9.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, virtually all offshore beach from the basin.
The problem of allowing the exploration of offshore oil and gas off Florida became a highly contested topic in the 2008 US elections. In a column published June 5, 2008, syndicated columnist George Will wrote that the Chinese oil company then drilled in Cuba waters 60 miles (97 km) the Florida coast, a repeated claim by candidates in favor of offshore drilling. George Will later admitted that there was no drilling going on in the Cuban waters.
In 2004, the Spanish oil company Repsol-YPF drilled in deep Cuban waters between Cuba and the Florida Keys, and found oil deposits; the deposit is not considered commercial, and the hole is plugged in. Repsol returns in 2012 to drill three dry holes in water locations in partnership with Norwegian company Statoil, then halt further efforts.
In October 2008, Cuba signed an agreement with Brazilian state oil company Petrobras, which provides Petrobras to drill for oil and gas in deep waters off Cuba's northern coast. Petrobras obtained poor drilling results, and was pulled out in March 2011.
In July 2009, Cuba signed an agreement with the Russian government that grants Russian oil exploration rights to the Zarubezhneft oil company in shallow waters closer to the northern coast of Cuba. Zarubezhneft secures a shallow drill rig drill and moves it to Cuba by the end of 2012. Zarubezhneft also failed to find a new oil deposit, and announced in May 2013 that it stops further drilling and releases the rig. Cuban officials say they expect Zarubezhneft to return to drilling in 2014.
Bahamas offshore
In 2009, listed companies in the Falkland Islands, BPC Limited and the Norwegian company, Statoil announced a joint venture to drill for oil in the waters of the Bahamas north of Cuba and southeast Florida. The Government of the Bahamas has demonstrated that applications for offshore drilling are pending pending negotiations with Cuba, the United States, and the Turks and Caicos Islands at the right boundaries between their respective Exclusive Economic Zones.
South Atlantic Coast
The first rental sale in Southeast Georgia Embayment off the coast of Georgia and Florida was held in 1978. The oil company drilled seven wells, all dry holes.
Central Atlantic Coast
A number of oil companies bought federal rent off the coast of North Carolina, but in 1990 the US Commerce Department rejected Car Oil's license to drill after Congress passed the North Carolina Federal Territory Protection Act, prohibiting the leasing and drilling offshore federal offshore from North Carolina. Cars and Marathon Oil are suing the federal government for returning the money paid for the rent.
In June 2000, the US Supreme Court ruled for oil companies at Car Oil Exploration & amp; Producing Southeast, Inc. v. United States , 530 U.S. 604 (2000), and ordered the federal government to pay $ 158 million. The government pays, and the companies give up the rent.
North Atlantic Coast
About 30 wells explored Baltimore Canyon Trough, about 100 miles (160 km) off the coast of New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia. In one area, five wells tested significant gas flow from Jurassic rocks, at speeds as high as 18.9 million cubic feet per day. A 3-dimensional seismic survey was made over the area, but, partly because of the fall in gas prices in the 1980s, the tenant oil company concluded that the treatise was not economical. The last lease was released in 1984.
From 1976 to 1982, oil companies drilled ten exploration wells in the US from Georges Bank Basin, about 120 miles (190 km) off the coast of Massachusetts. The deep well has a total depth of 21,874 feet (6,667 m). Nothing works.
Atlantic off the coast of Canada
The federal government of Canada and the province of Nova Scotia have jointly imposed a moratorium until 2015 for drilling in parts of Canada from Georges Bank.
Drilling has taken place off the Atlantic coast of Canada since 1967. Gas was discovered at the offshore Sable Energy Project (SOEP) off the coast of Nova Scotia in 1971, started producing natural gas in 2000, and is still in production. The second natural gas field off the coast of Nova Scotia is expected to begin delivering gas in 2010. Gas production requires the construction of an underwater pipeline to connect production wells with the gas market. SOEP is owned by ExxonMobil Canada Limited (50.8%), Shell Canada Limited (31.3%), Imperial Oil Limited (9.0%), Pengrowth (8.4%) and Moshbacher Operating Limited (0.5%). The Sable project generates between 400 and 500 million cubic feet of natural gas and 20,000 barrels (3,200 m 3 ) of natural gas liquids daily.
Further to the northeast, major oil deposits have been discovered and are being produced in the Jeanne d'Arc Basin, offshore Newfoundland. Offshore Newfoundland owns 38% of Canada's conventional oil reserves (excluding sand oils) by the end of 2011.
Future rental sales
The Obama Administration announced in March 2010 that it intends to open oil and gas rentals in the Central Atlantic and South Atlantic planning areas. However, in May 2010, following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the government canceled the only scheduled Atlantic rental sale, for offshore Virginia. On December 1, 2010, the Obama Administration closed the Atlantic and eastern Gulf region for drilling.
Offshore Virginia
Commercial oil and gas drilling never took place off the coast of Virginia. Unlike offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, occurring in state and federal waters, the proposed offshore Virginia drilling will exclusively reside in Federal waters more than 50 miles (80 km) from shore, and the state does not lease its country. waters for drilling. The second difference is that although federal laws have been amended to divide royalties in federal waters in the Gulf between the federal government and adjacent states, all royalty revenues from any offshore drilling in federal Atlantic waters are not shared with the state.
Based on a 5-year lease plan for 2007-2012, MMS scheduled rental sales for 50 miles (80 km) or more offshore channels in Virginia, which will take place in 2011. Five companies implement MMS to seismic. exploration survey off the Atlantic coast of the United States. MMS requested funding for the Environmental Impact Statement to decide whether to not allow a proposed seismic survey.
The possibility of offshore lease sales was a problem in the 2009 race for the governor of Virginia. The winner, Bob McDonnell, insisted during his tenure that the sale took place.
In May 2010, President Obama announced his decision to cancel offshore lease sales of Virginia, in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Obama previously supported rental sales.
See also
- Offshore oil and gas in the United States
- offshore drilling debate
- Offshore Energy and Jobs Act - Bill introduced in Congress to expand offshore drilling in the Atlantic
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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