The American Petroleum Institute (API) has criticised the Trump administration’s decision to extend the moratorium on energy development on the Eastern Gulf of Mexico (EGOM) and expand it to the South Atlantic.
The American Petroleum Institute (API) has criticised the Trump administration’s decision to extend the moratorium on energy development on the Eastern Gulf of Mexico (EGOM) and expand it to the South Atlantic.
‘Extending the moratorium in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico and expanding it to the South Atlantic is the wrong approach at the wrong time. Offshore access is critical for growing US energy leadership and providing affordable energy for American families for decades to come,’ API vice-president of upstream policy Lem Smith said.
Recent studies by Quest Offshore Resources Inc. show that offshore oil and natural gas leasing in the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) and Eastern Gulf of Mexico could contribute billions of dollars to state economies including: $4.5 billion to the Florida economy within 20 years, $5.9 billion in new revenue for the government within 20 years after initial leasing along the Atlantic OCS; $2.5 billion per year to South Carolina’s gross domestic product; and $350 million per year to Georgia’s economy.
