![Figure 1 VA, NC, SC, and GA Ocean Economy: 2012 Employment; Figure 2 VA, NC, SC, and GA Ocean Economy: 2012 GDP](https://www.infrastructureusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/blueeconomy-1and2.jpg)
MIDDLEBURY INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL STUDIES AT MONTEREY
CENTER FOR THE BLUE ECONOMY
In 2013, the American Petroleum Institute and the National Ocean Industries Association, oil and gas industry groups, commissioned Quest Offshore Resources, Inc., to prepare a report (the Quest report) on the economic impacts of offshore drilling in the Atlantic. This report has been widely cited to make the case for opening the Southeast to oil and gas development based on significant local, state, and regional benefits from drilling…This summary identifies issues with the Quest report that lead to significant overestimates of the economic impacts of offshore drilling in the Atlantic and provides an overview of the existing ocean economy of the South Atlantic region in order to provide the context of the industries that could be vulnerable to disruptions from oil and gas activity.