Uas the new Editor-in-Chief of Offshore. Although recently elevated to the position, I have been with the magazine for slightly over two years. In fact, I've been with publishing in general and the offshore oil and gas industry in particular for more than 30 years. I originally started with PennWell back in 19U uh, never mind. It was a while back. I left for another publication, and then logged stints with Texas Eastern Transmission Corp., Pennzoil, Lyondell, and Enron.
I have oil and gas in my DNA. My father and grandfather both worked for Phillips Petroleum. As a teenager, I worked as a roustabout, on pipeline crews, in a gasoline plant, and for an oilfield rental outfit. I know the good, honest feel of pipe tongs and pick and shovel from first hand experience.
I look forward to serving you as Editor. My goal is to continue the tradition set at Offshore of leading the industry in coverage of trends and technology. This issue is a case in point:
Can you believe $40 oil and $5.50 natural gas? For the offshore industry, it is the best of times and the worst of times.
Take the Gulf of Mexico.
As James Wicklund, managing director, Banc of America Securities, put it at the 28th Annual International Marine/Offshore Industry Outlook Conference in Houston, "The Gulf of Mexico has had nine lives, but when you run over the cat for the ninth timeU"
We all got the message. The offshore rig count is down, field sizes continue to decline, construction backlogs are low, support vessel usage and rates fail to recover, and just about every indicator except drilling efficiency (which is up) is continuing a downward spiral that began years ago. All this despite commodities prices that we never expected to see again. Ralph McIngvale, President of Southern States Offshore, speaks for us all in his Beyond the Horizon comments (page 100). "I am lost as to how a lease holding can't be attractive to drill at today's oil and natural gas prices," McIngvale writes. "If a prospect is not economical at $33-$37 oil and $5-$5.70 natural gas, with today's rig and boat prices, when will it be?"
It was in the teeth of such discouraging observations that Gulf of Mexico Editor Jaime Kammerzell prepared the GoM special section for this issue. Surprisingly, she found some bright spots amid the gloom – primarily deepwater, the deep shelf trend, and Pemex's plans for Mexico's portion of the Gulf. There are, she learned, still ambitious development projects planned and in progress in the GoM. And new players are finding innovative ways of extracting wealth from this aging arena. In summary, the cat still has some life and may surprise even the most skeptical veterinarian. Jaime's report begins on page 30.
Meanwhile, writing about an emerging exploration area that is just beginning its life, Jeremy Beckman, Editor, Europe, reminds us that the offshore industry remains an exciting and rewarding place to work. In our lead story for this issue, Jeremy describes the amazing removal, transport, and upgrade of the Hutton platform topsides facilities. It will be used for the development of the Prirazlomnoye offshore oilfield in Russia's White Sea. As Jeremy notes, the de-mating exercise involved the world's heaviest floatover operation from a redundant platform, and the subsequent mating operation from a barge onto two pontoons was also the world's largest. His article starts on page 26.
While you're thumbing through the issue, don't miss the technology reports in our Drilling & Completions, Production, and Construction & Installation sections. All that discouraging talk seems to bring out the best in our innovators.
Eldon Ball
