Global offshore production rose to a five-year high last year thanks in part to growing production in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), global offshore oil production accounted for nearly 30 percent of total global crude oil production in 2015.
That figure marked the highest global offshore production level since 2010.
Offshore oil production increased in both 2014 and 2015, reversing consecutive annual declines that stretched from 2010 to 2013, the EIA said.
Last year, more than 50 different countries pumped over 27 million barrels of oil from offshore areas.
Five countries accounted for 43 percent of the world’s total offshore oil production in 2015.
Safaniya was the highest-producing offshore field in the world last year and helped Saudi Arabia win a 13 percent share of the world’s total offshore production.
Brazil saw its offshore production grow 58 percent between 2005 and 2015, making the country the second-largest offshore producer in 2015.
“This growth was driven predominately by the expansion of deepwater pre-salt projects, which should support small production increases in 2016 and 2017,” the EIA said.
Mexico was the world’s third-largest offshore producer last year despite production dipping 31 percent from 2005 to 2015.
Despite smaller yields from its offshore assets, Mexico still managed to pump nearly 2 million barrels per day of offshore crude oil in 2015.
Mexico’s offshore production last year accounted for 7 percent of global offshore production.
Norway was the fourth-largest offshore producer in the world last year as production leveled off after several years of decline.
Norway’s offshore production fell 28 percent from 2005 to 2010 but has held steady since 2010.
Norway accounted for 7 percent of global offshore production last year.
The country’s offshore output is forecast to “rise slightly” in 2016 before “falling slightly” in 2017, the EIA said.
Recent production gains in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico helped the United States round out the top five largest offshore producers in the world.
According to the EIA, total U.S. offshore production jumped 6.5 percent from 2005 to 2015.
U.S. Gulf of Mexico production is slated to continue climbing as several large projects in the play come online in 2016 to 2017.
Production in the offshore area is expected to rise by 100,000 barrels per day in 2016 before adding an additional 200,000 barrels per day in 2017.
While U.S. offshore production is forecast to grow over the next two years, the EIA expects U.S. onshore production to decline by 800,000 bpd in 2016 and fall by an additional 300,000 bpd in 2017.
