Stuttering outlook for Gulf of Mexico
Despite ever-rising oil and gas production, drilling activity is looking weaker
After a challenging 2018 that saw project momentum in the US Gulf of Mexico (GOM) falter amid weaker oil prices, the outlook for drilling activity in 2019 appears diminished. The November price declines could have a chilling effect on investment, amid rising project costs. It marks a contrast with the situation in early 2018, when oil prices were high and deep layoffs, sustained cost-cutting, new technology, and optimisation had stripped the industry down to lean and mean. Sustained relief on commodity prices, which rose above $60/bbl and even above $70/bbl, was felt and welcomed. Also welcomed were changes in the US tax landscape. The December 2017 tax restructuring reduced corporate income
Also in this section
13 April 2026
Petroleum Economist analysis highlights sharp shift from crude oversupply to market deficit, with Iraq and Kuwait badly affected and key producers Saudi Arabia and the UAE also seeing output sharply lower
13 April 2026
Turkmenistan is moving ahead with a modest expansion of the giant Galkynysh field to sustain gas deliveries abroad, but persistent delays to other key pipeline projects and geopolitical risks continue to constrain its export ambitions
13 April 2026
Expensive electricity has forced out swathes of energy-intensive industry and now threatens the country’s ability to attract future investment in datacentres and the digital economy
13 April 2026
For GCC producers, the ceasefire may prove more destabilising than the war itself: exports remain constrained, and control over Hormuz has shifted in ways that could endure
