Oil Drillers Retreat From Shallow U.S. Gulf in Turn to Shale
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Energy producers are retreating from the search for oil and natural gas close to shore in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico as drilling budgets shrink and exploration migrates to land-based shale fields.
The number of permits for new wells in seas less than 500 feet (152 meters) deep plunged 74 percent to nine during the first six months of this year from a year earlier, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.