Global Marine Inc.’s worldwide Summary of Current Offshore Rig Economics (SCORE) was up 7.2% in April, the 20th consecutive month-to-month increase — an indication that dayrates will go up as international drilling attempts to move equipment out of the Gulf of Mexico. SCORE compares the profits of current mobile offshore drilling rig rates with those of the 1980-81 peak, a time of speculative rig construction.
Economics
Articles from Economics
Nuevo Discovery Well in California
Crediting a whole new set of economics, Nuevo Energy Co.reported late last week that it has made a new natural gasdiscovery in California. The Golden 1-21 shallow gas discovery wellis located in Kern County, about four miles from the prolific SouthBelridge and Elk Hills Fields.
Industry Briefs
The staff of the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Bureau ofEconomics and of Policy Planning said it generally supports theshort-term and long-term remedies that FERC has identified for theCalifornia power market but believes FERC should provide moreconcrete advice on how best to configure the organization that willoperate and control the transmission grid in the state. In commentsfiled with FERC this week, the FTC said FERC should considercreating a benchmark or a baseline of characteristics andoperations for regional transmission organizations that can be usedas a starting point as part of its revisions to California’swholesale electric power market rules and institutions. Inaddition, the comments suggest refinements to FERC’s proposedremedies to ensure that market power is not exercised in wholesaleelectric power markets, to the detriment of consumers. FERC OrderProposing Remedies for California Wholesale Electric Markets wasreleased Nov. 1 (see Daily GPI, Nov. 2). The order was intended toremedy deficiencies in market rules and institutions that havecontributed to recent reliability difficulties and high prices forelectric power in California.
Distributed Power Faces Utility Opposition
The technology and economics are in line for commercialexpansion of distributed power, but progress is threatened byentrenched utilities, according to distributed power sponsors.
Labor May Play Role in Filling CPUC Seats
Political forces are prevailing over economics in California’songoing efforts to finish the job of unbundling its natural gas andelectricity industries, and no one in the newly elected Gov. GrayDavis’s administration so far is getting involved, according toenergy industry observers in the state capital in Sacramento. As aresult, three months into 1999, the five-member California PublicUtilities Commission is operating with two vacant seats, stillawaiting gubernatorial appointments.
Conoco, Exxon Share Deep-Water Economics, Risks
Marking the start of a five-year, $400 million Gulf of Mexico(GOM) exploration and production (E&P) assault, Conocoannounced Monday the exchange of interest in several deep-waterblocks with Exxon and the debut of the Deepwater Pathfinder, adrillship capable of reaching 10,000-feet depths.