Report: Deepwater Gulf oil production won’t hit pre-spill levels for years

Deepwater oil-and-gas production in the Gulf of Mexico will drop sharply this year and isn’t expected to reach levels seen before the BP oil spill until 2016, the industry consulting firm Wood Mackenzie concludes in a new report.

The report tracks the impact of the April 2010 Macondo well blowout that prompted a months-long freeze on deepwater drilling, and a wave of new permitting and rig safety requirements.

“Given our current permitting outlook, deepwater GoM [Gulf of Mexico] production is not expected to exceed pre-Macondo estimates until 2016, when a new peak of nearly 2 million barrels of oil equivalent is anticipated,” the report states.

Wood Mackenzie estimates that deepwater production will drop by about 375,000 barrels of oil-equivalent per day this year, a reduction of 20 percent from pre-spill production estimates.