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OFFSHORE: UPDATE economics professor, said in October. Gulf oil production is up this year,

GoM Output Rises, “The count in the Gulf fell to 14 off- however, and will continue to rise in but Rig Numbers, Spending Dips shore rigs earlier this year from 56 in 2017 because of deepwater projects

Capital spending by big oil produc- ers is lower in the Gulf of Mexico this 2014,” he said. “Drill ships are tied up that began eight to ten years ago, Scott year, as it is worldwide, Loren Scott, or not working. Hornbeck, Chouest said. The U.S. Energy Information

Louisiana State University emeritus and Tidewater each have lots of offshore Administration sees Gulf oil output supply vessels that are without work.” averaging 1.63 million barrels per day this year and 1.79 million bpd in 2017. Output should reach a record 1.91 million bpd in late 2017, exceed- ing a peak in 2009, the year before the

BP spill. In addition to the start-up of ? elds that were developed when crude was around $100 a barrel, Gulf oil output has grown as technologies are adopted for developing satellite wells in or near producing ? elds.

In February, the EIA said: “GOM production is less sensitive to short- term price movements than onshore production in the lower 48 states is.

Decreasing pro? t margins and re- duced expectations for a quick oil- price recovery, however, have prompt- ed many GOM operators to pull back on future deepwater exploration spending, to scrap and stack older rigs, and to restructure or delay drill- ing rig contracts.” That said; Reuters was reporting in mid-September that the market adding rigs in 11 of the previous 12 weeks, according to mar- ket barometer Baker Hughes.

A decline in working rigs in the

Gulf has taken a toll on employment,

Scott said. The Lafayette, La. area should lose 9,000 jobs this year and possibly 5,000 next year, while Hou- ma, La. could be down 5,400 jobs this year and 4,000 in 2017. Louisiana as a whole should lose over 17,000 jobs this year. Shipyards along the Gulf have shed workers. Edison Chouest

Offshore in Cut Off, LA has laid off more than a thousand people from its yards, and has 100 boats tied up now.

Chouest didn’t respond to requests for comment in October.

Separately, Houston-based, oil? eld-

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