While Florida is widely known for its beaches and tourism, the state does have active oil wells, making it a minor domestic crude oil producer. Production is geographically limited, strictly regulated, and occurs exclusively on land, primarily in the southern and northwestern parts of the state. The volume of oil extracted is negligible compared to major oil-producing states, and the industry operates under significant environmental and legislative scrutiny. This onshore activity exists in contrast to the heavily restricted offshore areas, which are protected by prohibitions against new drilling.
Where Florida’s Oil Production Currently Occurs
The majority of Florida’s current oil production is concentrated in two distinct regions: the Panhandle and the southwestern portion of the peninsula. In the Panhandle, the historically significant Jay Field, located in Santa Rosa County near the Alabama border, continues to contribute to the state’s total output. Discovered in 1970, this field was once the most productive in Florida, but its output has declined significantly.
The other primary area is the Sunniland Trend, an onshore oil reserve stretching across Southwest Florida, mainly in Collier and Hendry counties. Fields in this area, including Bear Island and Raccoon Point, are located within the environmentally sensitive Big Cypress National Preserve. Oil is extracted from deep limestone formations, typically over 11,000 feet below the surface, from the Lower Cretaceous Sunniland Formation reservoir.
The crude oil produced from the Sunniland Trend is characterized as heavy, sour crude. This means it contains a high concentration of sulfur and has a relatively high density, with low API gravity ranging from 19 to 24.5 degrees. Since the oil does not naturally flow to the surface in large volumes, it must be mechanically pumped from the deep formation. Florida’s total daily production volume is small, accounting for less than 0.1% of the nation’s total crude oil production.
The Historical Scale of Florida Oil Production
The quest for oil in Florida began decades before the first successful discovery, with numerous unsuccessful exploratory wells drilled across the state starting in the early 1900s. Florida’s commercial oil history officially began in 1943 when the Humble Oil and Refining Company struck oil at the Sunniland Field in Collier County. This discovery proved that the Florida peninsula contained viable hydrocarbon reserves.
The state’s annual production peaked in 1978, following the development of the Panhandle’s Jay Field, reaching nearly 48 million barrels that year. This peak was short-lived, and production has been in steady decline ever since, falling below three million barrels annually since 2004.
In recent years, Florida’s total annual output has hovered around one million barrels. Despite the small scale of the operations, the Sunniland Trend alone has produced over 120 million barrels of crude oil since its discovery. The vast majority of the more than 1,100 oil and gas wells drilled across Florida since the 1940s are now non-productive. These exhausted wells have been permanently plugged and abandoned in accordance with state regulations to prevent contamination of groundwater and surface ecosystems.
State and Federal Offshore Drilling Bans
The prospect of expanding Florida’s oil industry into the marine environment is halted by regulatory barriers at both the state and federal levels. At the state level, a constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2018 prohibits oil and gas drilling within Florida’s state-controlled waters. These waters extend three nautical miles from the coast on the Atlantic side and nine nautical miles on the Gulf of Mexico side.
Beyond state jurisdiction, federal law and executive action impose bans on new drilling in a large portion of the Outer Continental Shelf off Florida’s coast. The Eastern Gulf of Mexico has been subject to various moratoria, with current restrictions extending until 2032.
These prohibitions are driven by the economic and environmental risks posed by oil spills to the state’s tourism-dependent economy and fragile coastal ecosystems. Major oil spill events, such as the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, cemented public and political support for these long-term bans. The regulatory framework creates a clear distinction between the limited, existing onshore operations and the heavily protected offshore areas.