COVER STORY
Rising Tide Offshore oil and wind riding tailwinds amid global turmoil.
By Jim Redden, Correspondent
R
ussia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24 forced the Biden administration into an uneasy détente with the oil and gas producers, urging a ramp up in short-term production. It has also led to an intensifying allegiance to offshore wind and its kin as longer-term alternatives to fossil fuels. The presidential capitulation came as U.S. oil prices hovered around $100/bbl. and Gulf of Mexico operators, having weathered a demand-wrecking pandemic and a devastating hurricane season, are on pace for what Wood 32
Mackenzie estimates will be record production of 2.3 million bb/d this year, owing to three significant deepwater developments coming online. Even so, operators decry what they view as overreaching regulations, slow permitting and leasing uncertainty — punctuated by the since-resolved judicial invalidation in late January of winning bids in the first Gulf of Mexico lease sale under President Biden. Though oil and gas are in the driver’s seat for now, the industry’s widely cyclical history and political uncertainty leave operators hesitant to make the huge spend required, especially for long-horizon deepwater projects. www.workboat.com • MAY 2022 • WorkBoat
Photographic Services, Shell International Ltd.
Production platform in the Perdido ultra-deepwater corridor, where Shell closed out 2021 with a promising discovery well.
