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Of the 2,206 active leases in the Gulf of Mexico, only a fifth are producing oil, according to records from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which regulates offshore drilling. Oil industry executives and analysts say the current number of 448 oil-producing leases is unlikely to grow significantly, even if Trump makes good on promises to expand leasing opportunities and expedite drilling permits.
The market is saturated with oil, making companies reluctant to spend more money drilling because the added product will likely push prices down, cutting into profits.
“It’s not the regulations that are getting in the way, it’s the economics,” said Hugh Daigle, a professor of petroleum engineering at the University of Texas in Austin. “It’s true that there are a bunch of undeveloped leases in the Gulf, and it’ll stay that way if we continue to see low or stagnant oil prices.”
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Well yeah, considering the exponential growth of renewable energy installations, fossil fuel consumption might drop to close to zero in 2040, and since oil fields typically have a lifetime of ~20 years, fossil fuel companies have less and less of an economic incentive to invest into the exploration of new oil fields.