Mexico

In his first Oval Office address, President Obama Tuesday night gave no sign that the moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) may be shortened to less than six months.

Exploration and production (E&P) spending in the United States is still on track to jump by double digits from a year ago, tempered by less spending in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) in the last half of the year, said Barclays Capital Wednesday.

The six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) poses uncertainties that could impact offshore operators and the communities in the region for years, energy analysts said Monday.

With the entire oil and gas industry under increased scrutiny because of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, regulators in Pennsylvania and West Virginia last week were quick to shut down the drilling operations of some companies after a pair of unrelated accidents at two wells in the Marcellus Shale.

The apparatus collecting oil and natural gas spewing from BP plc’s blown Macondo well a mile below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) prevented 11,100 bbl of oil from flowing into the GOM on Sunday, according to press reports.

The U.S. natural gas industry collectively is holding its breath to see whether the grim Gulf of Mexico (GOM) oil spill disaster impacts onshore drilling one way or the other, but in the near term, a positive influence is unlikely, an energy executive said last week.

Weak natural gas prices and regulatory uncertainty — stemming from the Deepwater Horizon accident in the Gulf of Mexico — cloud the outlook for oilfield service (OFS) companies over the next year to 18 months, Moody’s Investors Service said in a report last week.

While the six-month moratorium on drilling in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) announced last week applied only to deepwater projects, the Interior Department clarified late Thursday that all drilling in shallow water also was being shut down until operators complied with new safety rules and inspections, outlined by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

The U.S. natural gas industry collectively is holding its breath to see whether the grim Gulf of Mexico (GOM) oil spill disaster impacts onshore drilling one way or the other, but in the near term, a positive influence is unlikely, an energy executive said Wednesday.