By: David Freddoso
It’s “The Obama Recovery Summer” – if you happen to live in Egypt, anyway:
HOUSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. (NYSE:DO) today announced that a subsidiary of the Company has entered into a term contract ending June 30, 2011, plus option, with Burullus Gas Company S.A.E. that will immediately mobilize the Ocean Endeavor from the Gulf Of Mexico (GOM) to Egypt.
Diamond Offshore President and CEO, Larry Dickerson, noted, “With new contracting severely restricted in the GOM as a result of the uncertainties surrounding the offshore drilling moratorium, we are actively seeking international opportunities to keep our rigs fully employed. This new contract for the Endeavor will help us preserve backlog, and will allow the previous operator of the rig to satisfy its contractual obligations which extended until June 30, 2011. We greatly regret the loss of U.S. jobs that will result from this rig relocation.”
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/we-greatly-regret-the-loss-of-us-jobs-that-will-result-from-this-rig-relocation-98110194.html#ixzz0tCO4wDNl
It is really unconscionable that, having twice lost their appeal to reimpose the drilling moratorium, the government insists on using its powers to withold permits to nevertheless ensure the same outcome as if their moratorium was deemed valid. Never mind that their own commission denied that a 6 month moratorium would improve safety . Quite the opposite, they argued that the better rigs would depart, leaving the least reliable ones in the GOM, while severely cutting employment of thousands. It would have been far more rational to impose a high safety bar for drilling--indeed, demand the regulations already on the books but which Obama's agency previously declined to enforce. Now we have a lose-lose situation!
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