New Regs, no new Rigs

New regulations to be out soon for safety in 500+ feet drilling in the gulf of Mexico. No indication when the new regs will mean rigs going back on line as new permits must be issued. There is no indication when that will start, only hope.

The Interior Department has said it will release new drilling regulations by the end of September aimed at increasing safety in the industry, which was rocked by the BP oil spill disaster.

The new rules are one of the conditions the department said must be in place before it lifts its temporary ban on exploratory drilling in waters more than 500 feet deep. The freeze is supposed to expire in November 30, but the Interior Department has said it hopes to end the ban early.

"Even when the moratorium is lifted, you're not going to see drilling going on the next day, or even the next week," Bromwich told a White House oil spill commission meeting. "It's going to take some time. (Reuters)

The American Petroleum Institute – which represents the U.S. industry – did not criticize the regulations, saying it needed time to study them. But it did raise concerns about the lack of clarity, and lengthy permitting processes delaying activity.

“There has to be a clear, practical, and certain process for project review that will protect the environment,” API director Erik Milito said in a statement. “We cannot have an approval process that creates unpredictable delays that could place at risk the flow of domestic energy in our country.”

“My biggest concern – once the moratorium has been lifted – has to do with the capacity inside the regulator to process permits.” (The globe and mail)

- However, rigs have and are leaving and none are scheduled to replace them.

The April 20 blow-out caused more than 4 million barrels of crude oil to spew into the Gulf after a fiery explosion killed 11 workers and sunk Transocean Ltd's Deepwater Horizon rig.

Below are rigs that had been working in the Gulf that have been or will be moved to overseas markets because of the drilling moratorium.

* Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc said on July 9 the Ocean Endeavor rig, which had been contracted to earn about $290,000 per day from Devon Energy Corp in the Gulf of Mexico, will move to Egypt under a new deal with Burullus Gas Co.

* Diamond said on July 12 it would move the Deepwater Ocean Confidence, under contract to Murphy Oil Corp, from the Gulf to the Republic of Congo. [ID:nnN12212133]

* Transocean, the world's largest offshore drilling contractor, said on Sept. 1 it has moved its Marianas rig, under contract to Italy's Eni , from the Gulf to work off Nigeria. [ID:nN01152276]

* Transocean said on Sept. 14 that its Discoverer Americas vessel, under contract to Norway's Statoil , is leaving the Gulf for Egypt. [ID:nnN14103743] (Reporting by Anna Driver in Houston and Brandon Randall in San Francisco)(Reuters)