Oil groups suffer Gulf of Mexico setback

Disappointing oil exploration results in the Gulf of Mexico are upsetting the hopes of US oil majors for big new findings in an area free from interference by foreign, state-owned oil companies.

Wood MacKenzie, the energy consultancy, said in a new report that findings in the Gulf in 2007 were the lowest of the past decade. With a total of 553m barrels of oil equivalent, these new reserves were less than half of what was found in 2006.


The deep-water Gulf of Mexico is one of the few areas to which the majors have access without the fear of intervention by state-owned oil companies.

National oil companies now control more than 80 per cent of the world