IEA warns of big flow drop from drilling ban

In the wake of the Gulf of Mexico catastrophe, the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates an extended global moratorium on new drilling in offshore regions could cut potential world offshore output by 800,000 barrels to 900,000 barrels per day by 2015.

The IEA is confident in its estimate that 100,000 bpd to 300,000 bpd could be lost if new projects in the Gulf of Mexico were delayed by one or two years until 2015, said IEA's executive director, Nobuo Tanaka.

"If the same one-year or two-year delay happens globally, to global offshore drilling new projects, if that happens, we calculate it is about 800,000 bpd to 900,000 bpd," Tanaka continued.

"If 1 million bpd is struck out from the market, it's big. It may have a huge impact in the mid to the long term. Premium insurance is moving up, many countries are reviewing regulations and are trying to find out if they may have a similar problem in their operations."

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