The Gulf of Mexico is the world’s 9^th largest sea surrounded by the USA, Mexico and the island of Cuba. The basin is oval shaped, approximately 1,500 km wide, bounded on the north by the Gulf Coast of the USA, on the West and South by Mexico, and to the East, Cuba and Florida.

The Gulf of Mexico is an example of a passive margin, where the continental shelf extends far from the coast, most markedly at the Florida and Yucatán Peninsulas. The Gulf of Mexico shelf provides the perfect foundation for oil exploration and drilling by offshore platforms situated in areas such as Western Gulf and in the Bay of Campeche. As technology and techniques have developed, oil companies such as Crude and Oil Corporation have extended exploration into deep waters and currently c.72% of oil production in the US Gulf of Mexico is drilled from wells at depths exceeding 300m.