JQ and all, Good Morning.
Perspective from the field: Staffing of rigs right now is a major problem, a friend of mine at a major contractor has seen his active rigs go from 0 to 3 in this region in the past 2 months.
This is the international arena, where the roustabouts, roughnecks, and catering crew are nationals, with others positions filled by expat's. A real problem right now getting expat's who have a solid bank of experience and can safely direct national crews who (a) don't have the experience and (b) come from a background with a very different set of values, standards and motivations.
The Contractor who will excel here is the one who kept their staff on during the slow periods, chipping paint and sweeping the warehouse and doing minor rig maintenance.
Our project will spud in about a year's time and I have already voiced concerns to my friend, asking how specifically he intends to staff the rig.
On another note, it looks like all of the Democrats are up to date on their Dumb Shots:
slb.com (and below)
No mention of Chucky Schumer, but I see signs of his flavor of ignorance. I wonder if Occidental sells oil to the SPR?
This update from our Paris editors 11:41 GMT
Lawmakers Seek Emergency Oil Release
WASHINGTON, June 23 (Reuters via energy24.com) - The Clinton administration came under more pressure from Congress to release oil from the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve in order to give consumers relief from soaring gasoline prices.
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Seventy-eight lawmakers asked President Bill Clinton to immediately release oil from the emergency stockpile to counter OPEC's failure to increase oil production enough to ease tight supplies and to fight oil companies they claim are overcharging consumers for gasoline.
?By flooding the market with new supply, you not only will have an immediate effect on the spot price of gasoline, you will send a message to the oil industry and to OPEC that the United States will not stand idly by while average Americans become the pawns of oligopolies and cartels,? the lawmakers said in joint letter to the president.
The request to put reserve oil in the market comes as U.S. retail gasoline prices have reached record highs for the fourth week in a row, with pump prices in the Midwest topping $2 a gallon in many locations.
Speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill, lawmakers said oil companies are gouging consumers at the pump and it's time for the administration to take action by releasing reserve oil.
?The Christians had a better chance against the lions than motorists against the oil companies,? said Rep. Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat. The emergency reserve, which was created by Congress in the mid 1970s, holds 570 million barrels of oil in a series of underground salt caverns in Louisiana and Texas.
With that much oil, Markey said one or two million barrels of crude could be released a day throughout the summer without making a dent in the reserve.
The lawmakers said the president could order a direct sale of reserve oil or temporary loan crude to energy firms that would then sell the oil in the open market.
Regards to all,
Aggie |
