US bans oil companies deepwater drilling for 6 months

Obama and the US administration have decided to ban deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico for a period of six months, which will directly affect at least seventeen oil companies including multinational giants like BP, Exxon Mobil, Shell and Chevron.

The order, issued on May 27th 2010, forced 33 rigs to shut down operations and every one of those rigs is serviced out of Port Fourchon, according to Mr. Chiasson, so the drilling ban could end up slashing the incomes of thousands of other workers, from welders and divers to caterers and drivers, who depend on the industry.

One oil industry group, the Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association, has estimated that each exploration and production job represents four supporting jobs in and around the region. If that is the case, thousands of jobs, and millions of dollars in wages, could be affected by the work stoppage, the group said.

With that in mind, a growing chorus of residents, business owners and local politicians in the gulf region are imploring the Obama administration to reconsider the deepwater drilling ban.

“We need to know what you are prepared to do to prevent catastrophic damage to our battered economy,” said an editorial addressed to the president that appeared in The Times-Picayune of New Orleans on Friday. “It is not clear, Mr. President, why it will take six months to determine what went wrong on Deepwater Horizon and how to remedy safety deficiencies.”

When the Deepwater Horizon exploded April 20, releasing a still-continuing torrent of oil into the gulf, representatives from at least 13 different companies were on board. Besides high-level engineers and managers from Transocean, which operated the rig, and BP, which held the lease on it, the workers included cooks, tank washers and laundry workers employed by a medley of subcontracted companies.

A long term pause in oil companies ability to ddrill in deepwater work could be devastating to local US economies already struggling with fishing restrictions, frightened tourists and other effects of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.