COLUMN
The Gulf of Mexico:
An Energy Platform for America Even as business, schools and scenes from everyday life seem frozen as society adjusts to the coronavirus, the U.S. marches closer toward the November presidential election. In early August, Vice President Joe Biden announced Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate. As the BidenHarris ticket works out their policy platforms, they should move beyond past comments attacking American offshore oil and gas production. In fact, a strong American offshore oil and gas industry is a platform every candidate should stand behind. Between New Orleans and Houston, Interstate 10 winds through bayous, rivers, woodlands and plains. Thousands of companies and hundreds of thousands of people that call this area home are linked by a mutual mission: safely producing American offshore energy.
In 2019, the U.S. Gulf of Mexico produced an average 2.3 million barrels oil equivalent per day. More than 345,000 men and women employed by dozens of operators and producers and thousands of suppliers, service companies, specialists and other expert businesses worked in concert safely producing homegrown American energy. The economic impact of Gulf of Mexico oil and gas production stretches beyond the Gulf Coast, too. From buoy specialists in Maine to personal protective equipment manufacturers in Minnesota to software companies in Florida to automation experts in Connecticut, every state has jobs and economic investments dependent on Gulf Coast energy production. The U.S. offshore industry had a more than $28.6 billion impact on U.S. GDP last year. Gulf of Mexico oil and gas production not only drives
Š scandamerican / Adobe Stock
22 MN
September 2020
