The response to the administration's decision to disrupt deepwater offshore drilling in the Gulf is beginning to hurt the economies of coastal communities--the same communities that are losing income from fishing and tourism due to the spill.

On May 27, President Obama instituted a six-month moratorium on all drilling in water depths greater than 500 feet and stopped work on 33 Gulf deepwater exploration rigs, except under special circumstances.

Several organizations have offered estimates of the drilling moratorium's impact on consumers, the U.S. oil and natural industry, and the nation's energy security:

• Adam Sieminski of Deutsche Bank predicted that U.S. oil production could fall by 160,000 barrels of oil per day by next year. (Financial Times)

• Bernstein Research said delays from the... more »

Last week, I had the pleasure of hosting 15 bloggers on a conference call about the challenges of deepwater exploration and the impact of these projects on the U.S. economy.

The conversation featured Robert N. (Bobby) Ryan, Jr., vice president of global exploration for Chevron Global Upstream & Gas and also included API Chief Economist John Felmy and API Federal Relations Director Mark Kibbe.

Bloggers who participated in the call include:

• Alan Stewart Carl, Donklephant
• Bob McCarty, Bob McCarty Writes
• Brian Westenhaus, New Energy and Fuel
• Bruce McQuain, The QandO Blog
• Buster Cagney, The Oil Drum
• Chris Nelder, GetRealList
• David Murphy, The Oil Drum
• Devil's Advocate, Right Wing News
• Geoff Styles, Energy Outlook
• Jim Hoft, Gateway Pundit
• Joy McCann, Little Miss Attila
• Krystle, Bearing Drift an... more »