The surge of production from the Gulf of Mexico has led the US to produce more crude oil than it has since 2004. (image: cruisebruise.com)

United States crude oil production for 2009 is on target to have its biggest one-year jump since 1970, according to a Platts analysis of industry data, reports MarketWatch. If the average production level recorded in the first ten months of the year—5.268 million barrels per day (bpd)—holds through December, this year’s output would show a 6.4 percent increase from the 4.95 million b/d average of 2008 and rank as the best year of US oil production since 2004, when output averaged 5.419 million b/d.

According to PR Newswire, in the 40 years since US oil production peaked, annual output has only risen eight times. Seven of those increases were minimal; only in 1978 was there a jump of significance, increasing 5.6 percent to 8.7 million barrels per day.

The production numbers for 2008 were distorted by curtailments caused by hurricane activity, shown by the 183,000 bpd of Gulf of Mexico output that was still offline at the end of that year. However, 2009 is still expected to post increases of 3 percent and 4 percent from the relatively storm-free years of 2006 and 2007, respectively.

The US Minerals Management Service (MMS) believes that 2009 is only the beginning of a revival in US oil production. The engine of growth in oil production is the Gulf of Mexico, where a decade of exploration is beginning to reap rewards and companies continue to make discoveries.

The good news is that with such vigorous oil production, home heating oil prices might just come down for homeowners.

Some want to open up drilling off Florida's west coast, but is it worth it? (image: EIA via trb.com)

For years, the US oil industry has touted domestic offshore drilling as a pivotal component of any solution to this country’s energy issues. But many disagree, and question whether exploitation of coastal waters for fuel would bring the benefits that supporters claim.

An opinion piece from Tallahassee.com echoes this skeptical sentiment. Looking specifically at Florida’s near-shore waters, Thomas Ballentine finds that the promise of offshore oil and natural gas drilling is “vastly overblown.” The US Minerals Management Service estimates that the Eastern Planning Area of the Gulf contained only 1 million barrels of crude oil, which isn’t even enough to supply the US for one hour.

While Ballentine limits his argument to the projects proposed for waters off Florida’s coasts, it nonetheless serves as an invitation to re-examine the value of reserves of fossil fuels off our coasts more generally. Offshore and deep water drilling is neither easy nor cheap, and often poses environmental risks. Ultimately, the question is whether or not the risks and costs are outweighed by the amount of energy the projects will provide. If you ask Ballentine that question about Florida’s offshore reserves, he’ll have a quick and clear answer: no.

To recover the deep natural gas stores off Florida’s panhandle will take billions of dollars of investment and five to seven years before any of this gas ever reaches shore, according to Ballentine. And even then, it will only provide 5 percent of Florida’s daily natural gas consumption over a 10-year period. By these numbers, any hopes that offshore reserves will be able to supply a substantial amount of Florida’s energy needs would be misplaced.