Page 27: of Marine News Magazine (January 2011)

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www.marinelink.com MN 27 than 100 vessels, serving the offshore oil and gas industry worldwide. In addition to Louisiana, the company has offices in Mexico and Brazil.

Drilling-Permit Approvals Lag

Recent Years

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar visit- ed Houma in late November and met with oil and gas companies that work in shallow waters. He was encouraged that operators were moving quickly to comply with new regulations, but industry members were disappointed that Salazar didn't announce a more accelerated path for processing per- mits.

Since early June, the Bureau of

Ocean Energy Management, known as BOEM and alternatively as

BOEMRE, has approved 21 new, shallow-water applications for per- mits to drill, with several shallow applications pending. Fewer shallow- water permits were approved per month in the second half of 2010 than in recent years. And because of the cost and complications of com- plying with new regulations, the number of applications for shallow permits has slowed. Meanwhile, industry members question the rea- sons for increased oversight of the shallow sector where, they said, no major, dangerous incidents have occurred in recent decades.

As for deepwater permits, BOEM has received several applications for new wells since the agency's drilling ban was lifted in October and is reviewing them and, in some cases, asking for more information. Since

BP's oil spill, three deepwater rigs moved from the Gulf of Mexico to

Egypt, Nigeria and the Congo, respectively, with two of them there temporarily.

In Morgan City, Gary Lipely, direc- tor of marketing and sales at Conrad

Industries, said “we successfully com- pleted some recent projects for the

Army Corps of Engineers, including some crane barges, but it looks as if 2011 might be a little slower because of a number of uncertainties.” He too cited oil and gas customers waiting for drilling permits and more federal regulations. And, he said, “the weak economy is another factor affecting us. We’ve been fortunate, though, that we haven’t had to lay off any- one.”

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