Oil-Rig owners leave gulf for longer-term deals

From the Dallas Morning News:

... Rig owners who operate in the shallow gulf say that the equipment moving out is not coming back soon.

...But Steve Lawrence, chief executive of Clarksons Offshore in Houston, a company that brokers deals between offshore drilling companies, said the reason the gulf is being abandoned is because the reserves are drying up.

He said the Gulf of Mexico is a mature field, one which has been harvested for a long time, and one which has steep decline curves. That means that a new well may have strong production immediately after it comes online, but that will peter out sooner than it would in a younger oil or natural gas field....MORE