Deepwater

Global offshore oil production, including lease condensate and hydrocarbon natural gas liquids, last year reached its highest level in 16 years and accounted for almost 30% of worldwide output, with the United States one of the leaders, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

The global oil supply is tightening, and markets should move closer to balance by the end of this year, but it’s too early for “any improvement in price” to affect exploration investments because operator confidence and balance sheets still need to be repaired, Schlumberger Ltd.’s operations chief said Tuesday.

Royal Dutch Shell plc agreed Monday to take $425 million from EnVen Energy Corp. for the Brutus platform and Glider production system in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico (GOM).

With 54% of the natural gas and 82% of the oil production in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) coming from wells drilled in 1,000 feet (305 meters) of water or more, offshore operators are honing their techniques in the deepwater, according to an analysis by the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM).

Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc., mirroring recent comments by Noble Corp. plc and Ensco plc, is expecting volatility “for some time to come” for the offshore oil and gas industry, regardless of whether commodity prices have stabilized, CEO Marc Edwards said Monday.

The ultimate costs from the Macondo well blowout in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico six years ago, already considered the costliest environmental disaster in history, have reached $61.6 billion, BP plc said Thursday.

Global deepwater spending is forecast to total $137 billion between 2016 and 2020, down 35% from a year-ago forecast for 2015-2019, Douglas-Westwood Ltd. (DW) analysts said.

Producers that in late 2014 began to carefully prune discretionary spending now are cutting all nonessential expenditures, which in 2015 upended at least 68 major oil and natural gas projects worldwide worth a total of $380 billion, Wood Mackenzie Ltd. said.

At least 68 major oil and natural gas projects worldwide, worth a total of $380 billion and holding an estimated 27 billion boe of commercial reserves, have been shelved since late 2014, with deferred U.S. oil projects accounting for most of the losses, according to Wood Mackenzie Ltd.