Oil prices rise, but OSV work slows

摘要

It is no secret that the slowdown in drilling in the Gulf of Mexico will substantially reduce the number of supply vessels delivered in 2004. Although the price of oil remained above $43 a barrel in September, the oil companies and their contract drillers have, in large part, sat on the sidelines. The number of drilling rigs active in the Gulf has fallen to less than 200 at the end of the first quarter of 2004, and it may be late in 2004 before additional rigs are brought online. Most of the supply-boat building now in Gulf Coast shipyards entails finishing up multi-vessel contracts awarded many months ago, when the vessel owners were betting that the oil patch would have turned around by mid-2004.