Eastern Gulf Drilling Ban Susceptible

By Bahr, Emilie

For years, Don Briggs has predicted an end to the decades-old ban on oil and gas drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, looking forward to the change as a boon to the state’s energy industry.

“When gasoline gets to be $5 a gallon,” said Briggs, president of the Louisiana Oil and Gas Association, “no one is gonna care what the people of Florida think about a drilling rig off their coast.”

With gasoline at $4 a gallon and rising, Briggs believes that day is within reach. It is a view bolstered by calls earlier this month from President Bush and presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain for Congress to lift the moratorium — in place since 1982 — that prohibits drilling on most federal offshore territory.

The ban excludes offshore Texas and Louisiana but includes the eastern Gulf, where strong opposition from Floridians worried about drilling’s effects on state tourism and ecosystems has stymied attempts by the oil and gas industry to gain a foothold there.

Louisiana Sens. Mary Landrieu, D-New Orleans, and David Vitter, R- Metairie, support expanding the nation’s offshore drilling landscape.

On June 18, Vitter announced plans to introduce the Energy Needed Offshore Under Gas Hikes, or ENOUGH Act, which proposes allowing a state’s governor to petition for increased energy exploration in federal waters off the coast of that state once the price of gasoline reaches $5 a gallon.

Unlike much of the western Gulf, which is dominated by Texas, Briggs said newly opened eastern territory would be a prime target for Louisiana’s oil and gas industry.

“Florida doesn’t have the infrastructure to develop the eastern Gulf of Mexico,” he said.

He and other observers said much of that work would fall to Louisiana companies, ports and pipelines.

“Any increased drilling in the Gulf could be a benefit to the service companies based in Louisiana,” said Richard Tullis, an analyst with Capital One Southcoast in New Orleans.

Environmental groups, many congressional Democrats and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama are opposed to lifting the drilling ban. Most analysts say its repeal would do little to reduce oil and gasoline costs, at least in the short-term, due to growing global demand and the years it would take to produce resources from untapped areas.

Drilling opponents say sky-high energy prices should prompt a new focus on conservation and investment in renewable alternatives.

“Drilling in additional coastal areas will make almost no difference in the amount of oil available,” said John Day, a professor emeritus in the Department of Oceanography and Coastal Science at Louisiana State University. “Even optimistic estimates of remaining oil in undrilled areas would add about 1 percent to world oil supplies, and it is world oil supplies that make the difference since the oil industry is completely globalized. … We are at one of the most important transitions in human history and almost everyone has his or her head in the sand.”

With the presidential race in full swing and pressure mounting from constituents to ease the pain at the pump, those pushing for expanded offshore drilling include some who once were adamantly opposed to it, including McCain and Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, who is said to be on a short list of potential Republican vice presidential candidates.

Even if the moratorium were lifted tomorrow, any serious benefit to the state’s industry could be at least a decade away.

“From exploration to recovery is normally about 10 years,” Briggs said. “If we get to drill in the (eastern) Gulf of Mexico now … it’s gonna be 10 years before we see anything come of there.”

An industrywide shortage of equipment and oil and gas workers further complicates the state’s ability to gain from an expanded offshore drilling.

“One of the biggest problems in our industry today is we’re so strapped for drilling rigs and for people,” Briggs said. “There’s many rigs, deepwater rigs, being built right now, but all of those rigs have contracts.”

Credit: Emilie Bahr

(Copyright 2008 Dolan Media Newswires)

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