John,
Even with such a pessimistic title, "North Sea exploration cuts",
the article is pretty positive with relation to drilling in the GOM. I've taken the liberty to highlight the positives of the article.
>>"Drilling has already declined this year in response to the market malaise, but spending is widely expected to be up because of commitments entered into last year when oil prices were relatively high and rig hire rates at their peak."<<
Gotta like this:
>>"Longer term, leading oil companies attending the 13th biennial Offshore Northern Seas conference restated a commitment to actively explore for oil in ever deeper waters in all corners of the globe."
"But some oil companies, including Mobil and Phillips , said they had no plans to revise down their spending levels, despite the sharp drop in oil prices over the past year. "<<
Not so bad if contracts expire when crude is +$17.00 :
>>"Rig activity is definitely down this year, but spending is probably higher because of the commitments entered into last year," Cochrane said.
Most companies said they had experienced no discernable fall in rig activity this year. "<<
>>A number of U.S.-based companies attending the conference said they had no plans to cut exploration spending next year.
"Our strategy is for growth and we'll pursue that," commented Phillips senior project manager David Smith, stressing that no cuts were expected in the company's global programme.
Royal Dutch/Shell managing director Phil Watts said Shell's own upstream spending had risen in 1998, although the 1999 position was as yet unclear.
Mobil said it had not revised down its 1998 exploration and production spending from a $3.9 billion plan announced early this year, and said it had no plans to reduce expenditure next year.
"We haven't reduced any expenditures for planning purposes for next year, however we continue to say that our budgets are constantly under review," a Mobil spokesman said.<<
Rig shortage? What cuts?:
>>"We've had a tough enough time getting hold of rigs for our 15th licensing round exploration activities," he said. <<
Nello
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