Offshore drilling advocates complained that they didn’t get clarity or commitments out of the summit between industry leaders and federal regulators in Houma, La., today.
“While candid discussions are important . . . the time for discussion has passed for many of our most expert and productive drillers in the Gulf,” said Jim Noe, executive director of the Shallow Water Energy Security Coalition that met with Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to push for speedier government approvals of offshore well permits.
“We are disappointed that the federal government gave us no commitments at this meeting,” Noe added.
The meeting with Salazar, the shallow-water coalition, the nation’s top drilling regulator and others was brokered by Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La.
The government officials used the discussion to reiterate their past assurances that they are collaborating with industry and working as quickly as possible to vet drilling proposals.
Michael Bromwich, the head of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, noted afterward that the agency “has been in frequent communication with representatives from the oil and gas industry” and is committed to clarify confusion over new safety requirements imposed in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon disaster. The ocean energy bureau has temporarily shifted about 20 workers to help with Gulf of Mexico permitting.
Since new offshore drilling requirements were imposed in June, the government has approved 16 permits for new wells in shallow water. One deep-water project has been approved since the administration lifted its moratorium last month, but that project was not affected by the ban. Federal regulators have sent any other pending deep-water drilling applications back to companies for more details.
Landrieu said she was extremely disappointed that the meeting “failed to provide regulatory certainty and a clear path for speeding up the process of issuing drilling permits.”
“Our industry leaders are skeptical and have every right to be,” Landrieu said. “The Gulf Coast needs much more clarity and specificity to move forward. I was assured a clear path forward was imminent, and I hope it still is.”
Landrieu vowed to continue pressing the issue in the Senate, where she just ended her blockade of a confirmation vote on President Barack Obama’s pick to head the Office of Management and Budget. That was one strategy, Landrieu said; “there are many other tools at our disposal.”
Landrieu vowed that Louisiana’s congressional delegation “will use every one to send the message that it is harmful to our economy and our national security to keep this industry in the dark and on the sidelines.”
Drilling contractors and independent producers are waiting for the government to issue its first deep-water drilling permit since lifting its ban in October, said Randall Luthi, president of the National Ocean Industries Association.
“Time is running out, especially for the smaller, independent producers in the Gulf,” Luthi said. “If permits don’t start flowing their way, they will see more lost rigs and jobs.”
Jim Adams, interim president of the Offshore Marine Service Association, said drilling advocates are desperate for “long overdue regulatory clarity that will allow work to resume in the Gulf.”
“We want an end to the administration’s hollow promises,” Adams added, insisting that until shallow-water permits are sped up and deep-water applications are approved, there is a “de factor moratorium” that puts “our nation’s long-term energy production capabilities and its national security at risk.”
Analysts at the investment bank FBR Capital Markets noted that the meeting today doesn’t change its predictions that the industry won’t begin drilling its first deep-water well covered by the ban until spring 2011. “We still believe that there is a pathway for some deep-water permitting to begin before the end of the year,” FBR Capital Markets said. “We note, however, that bureaucratic delays and litigation risk remain significant sources of caution.”
..gettin’ gddamned tired of this pecan headed marxist coming to town spewing his boss bama’s platitude. time to take matters in our own hands Louisiana. time to tell the fed. what time it is and get on with it.
I volunteer to guard a drilling operation from the fed. threatening shutting it down. Who’s with me? This could be the beginning of the end of taking crap from the fed.
The time is NOW to take back our state and tell the fed to shove it.