Oil and gas industries favor UNCLOS because it provides legal framework for accessing resources outside EEZ

Offshore petroleum production is a major technological triumph. We now have world record complex development projects located in 7,500 feet of water in the Gulf of Mexico which were thought unimaginable a generation ago. Even more eye-opening, a number of exploration wells have been drilled in the past four years in over 8,000 feet of water and a world record well has been drilled in over 10,000 feet of water. New technologies are taking oil explorers out more than 200 miles offshore for the first time, thus creating a more pressing need for certainty and stability in delineation of the outer shelf boundary. Before the LOS Convention there were no clear, objective means of determining the outer limit of the shelf, leaving a good deal of uncertainty and creating significant potential for conflict. Under the Convention, the continental shelf extends seaward to the outer edge of the continental margin or to the 200-mile limit of the EEZ, whichever is greater, to a maximum of 350 miles. The U.S. understands that such features as the Chukchi Plateau and its component elevations, situated to the north of Alaska, are not subject to the 350-mile limitation. U.S. companies are interested in setting international precedents by being the first to operate in areas beyond 200 miles and to continue demonstrating environmentally sound drilling development and production technologies.

Today our industry associations and their member companies are devoting much time and money lobbying for increased access to public lands within the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone. The Law of the Sea Treaty will provide access opportunities to explore vast acreage beyond 200 miles off the coast of any nation that can delineate its shelf in a manner that meets the requirements of Article 76 of the Convention.