The US Offshore Drilling Argument: The Debate Between Now Versus Waiting a While

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The question of whether we should or should not drill is again in the news. Locations of concern include coastal waters such as those near Florida; the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) (beyond state coastal areas); and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Many are saying drilling doesn’t make sense. I believe that it makes sense to start the long process to drill now partly because of the expected impacts of peak oil, and partly because technical changes within the petroleum industry have helped overcome some previous objections to drilling.


The views in this article are my own, particularly the peak oil views. Many of the comments about technical issues are based on discussions with the American Petroleum Institute (API). I recently participated in an API bloggers conference phone call on the subject of “Exploration and Production.” We talked about offshore drilling and ANWR. A listing of the people involved can be found here, and a transcript of the call can be found here.

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