Offshore, Off-Limits

The document argues that offshore oil and gas production poses severe risks, including underreported greenhouse gas emissions from flaring and methane leaks, the high potential for devastating well blowouts—especially in deep waters—and chronic marine pollution from produced water. It highlights the failure of current cleanup technologies and the long-term socio-economic damage to coastal communities, concluding that halting offshore expansion is essential to meeting the 1.5°C global warming limit.

• Offshore oil and gas production has a significant and often underreported climate impact due to energy-intensive extraction, methane leaks, and gas flaring. A study of shallow-water platforms in the Gulf of Mexico found methane loss rates between 23 and 66 percent, compared to 3.3 to 3.7 percent for onshore sites.
• Well blowouts represent the most severe danger of offshore production, with the risk of large-scale disaster increasing as wells get deeper. For every 100 feet of additional depth, the likelihood of a self-reported incident, such as an injury or spill, increases by more than 8 percent.

APA

Khatri, U., Steer, A., & Reisch, N. (2025). Offshore, Off-Limits. Center for International Environmental Law. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Offshore-Off-Limits-Production.pdf

Chicago

Khatri, Upasana, Aidan Steer, and Nikki Reisch. Offshore, Off-Limits. Center for International Environmental Law, 2025. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Offshore-Off-Limits-Production.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Khatri |first1=Upasana |last2=Steer |first2=Aidan |last3=Reisch |first3=Nikki |title=Offshore, Off-Limits |publisher=Center for International Environmental Law |date=2025 |url=https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Offshore-Off-Limits-Production.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{khatri2025offshore, author = {Khatri, Upasana and Steer, Aidan and Reisch, Nikki}, title = {{Offshore, Off-Limits}}, institution = {Center for International Environmental Law}, year = {2025}, url = {https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Offshore-Off-Limits-Production.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }