NOIA Member Companies Feel Impacts of Drilling Moratorium

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For Immediate Release: Contact: Nicolette Nye

Friday, June 11, 2010 (202) 347-6900

NOIA Member Companies Feel Impacts of Drilling Moratorium,

Applauds Landrieu’s Efforts to Save Jobs

WASHINGTON, DC – The decision to halt deep water exploration activity and the uncertain status of shallow water operations in the Gulf of Mexico is already having profound impacts on the offshore energy industry, and these impacts will only worsen the longer the pause continues. Since the Gulf region depends on the offshore industry for thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in revenue, the impacts of the “one size fits all” moratorium will add further job loss and economic woes to a region already suffering from these same hits to its seafood and tourism industries.

Fearing that the blanket drilling moratorium “could exacerbate, rather than alleviate, the impacts of this spill upon both our economy and our environment,” U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana has sent a letter to the President requesting that the blanket moratorium on drilling be lifted. In a June 11 letter the Senator wrote, “The immediate impacts to the economy are devastating enough: idling the 33 rigs currently permitted to drill in the deepwater Gulf would immediately impact employment for roughly 38,000 crewmen, deck hands, engineers, welders, ROV operators, caterers, helicopter pilots, and others who operate and service these vessels. That’s like closing 12 large motor vehicle assembly plants in one state, all at once”.

NOIA strongly echoes the Senator’s sentiments and applauds her efforts to look at the full scope of interwoven industries and communities that make the Gulf of Mexico economy strong. We plan to continue working with the Senator to ensure that jobs and revenues in the region aren’t an unintended casualty of the response to the Deepwater Horizon spill.

NOIA member companies are feeling the impact of the blanket moratorium, and several share their stories below:

Aker Solutions

Aker Solutions is a leading global provider of engineering and construction services, technology products and integrated solutions to the offshore oil and gas industry.
The moratorium will impact Aker Solutions' offshore related operations on the Gulf Coast which include about 750 employees in Texas and Alabama.
The company has already started to refocus their efforts to international projects that hopefully can replace some of the void.
Some of their offshore services work is coming to a halt already; and unless they can refocus that workforce, including vessels and tools, to international projects they are at risk of losing jobs in Texas over the next few months.
Manufacturing jobs in Alabama are at risk from early 2011, as the backlog runs out with no new orders of deepwater subsea equipment coming in.
Engineering jobs in Houston are at risk of being reduced, but may be able to be refocused internationally.
In summary, part of their workforce will be affected directly or indirectly by the moratorium. Their goal is to try to mitigate this by securing international projects.

ATP Oil & Gas Corporation

ATP Oil & Gas Corporation is an independent oil and gas producer headquartered in Houston, Texas.
The moratorium has caused ATP to stop the drilling of a natural gas development well (the Mississippi Canyon 305 # 2 well) and release the deepwater drilling rig. The MC 305 #2 well would have produced approximately 40 million cubic feet of gas per day with a very small amount of condensate.
Additionally, ATP will not be able to drill and complete two development wells (MC 941 #4 well and MC 942 # 2 well) using a drilling configuration with two blowout prevention (BOP) stacks, one on the seafloor and one at the surface. This is a new design for improved safety, a first in the US Gulf of Mexico and one that the company planned 3 years ago.
These wells were originally planned to be completed and placed on production in 2010 at a combined rate of approximately 14,000 barrels of oil per day using a platform drilling rig attached to the ATP Titan platform.
As a result of the moratorium and the suspension of operations, ATP expects to incur additional costs of approximately $30,000,000 that otherwise would not have been spent.
Additionally, ATP will defer revenues of more than $1,000,000 per day as a result of not being able to drill and complete the development wells planned for 2010.

Bollinger Shipyards, Inc.

Bollinger Shipyards, Inc. and its affiliated companies are the leading provider of quality marine construction, repair and conversion products, servicing both the military and commercial marine industry. They also own and operate a fleet of Offshore Supply Vessels that service the deepwater activities of the OCS. Family owned and operated since 1946, Bollinger Shipyards employs 3,000 people.
“In the 64 years of our existence, we have never been faced with such an uncertain future. This moratorium has created an environment leaving Bollinger Shipyards no choice but to downsize our company thereby eliminating good paying jobs.”

Broadpoint, Inc.

Broadpoint is a 27 year old privately held company with a 100 employees based along the Gulf Coast with its headquarters in Houston and a Network Operations Center in New Orleans with an additional office in Lafayette, LA.
Their operations are 99% directly related to providing telecommunication services in the Gulf of Mexico through satellite communications and the ownership and management of a 100,000 square mile GSM/GPRS/Edge network operating in the Gulf.
Broadpoint and its clients will be adversely affected as a result of this shutdown and it will directly affect their ability to operate. Reliable communications is essential for the health and safety of individuals in the Gulf of Mexico.

CapRock Communications, Inc.

CapRock Communications is a 29 year old privately held company employing 750 employees globally with headquarters in Houston and operational offices in Lafayette and New Orleans, LA.
Their operations are related to providing satellite communication solutions that enable the oil and gas industry to operate more efficiently in today's environment, serving the communications needs of rig owners, service companies and operators working on drilling rigs, production platforms and other assets in the Gulf.
They currently have over 50 field service and operations personnel supporting clients in the Gulf of Mexico and this shutdown will directly impact their ability to maintain operations.
Their field service personnel install and manage communication systems onboard drilling rigs and energy support vessels throughout the Gulf of Mexico. As their customers are now required to cease or limit their operations, the amount of business their company receives and the work they have for their personnel in the region significantly declines.
They will be forced to redeploy personnel to different regions or support them in finding other opportunities.

C&C Technologies, Inc.

C & C provides a wide range of survey and mapping services for the land and offshore oil and gas industry, the telecommunications industry and the U.S. government.
C&C expects to lay off approximately 10 employees as a result of the moratorium, and will not be hiring the dozen or so workers they expected to hire in the coming months.

Cobalt International Energy, Inc

Cobalt International Energy, Inc. (Cobalt) is an independent oil and gas exploration and production company focused on the deepwater U.S. Gulf of Mexico and the deepwater offshore Angola and Gabon.
Cobalt was formed in 2005 and is headquarters in Houston, Texas with an operational base in Port Fourchon, L.A. for their deepwater GOM exploration activities, and an (soon to be established) operational base in Luanda Angola for their Angola exploration activities. At present Cobalt have some 65 employees and 25 consultants.
The GOM Drilling Moratorium has significantly impacted Cobalt’s GOM deepwater 2010 exploration and appraisal program from a multitude of perspectives: