6/97 mechanical engineering: editorial

editorial
Fishing for Energy

By John G. Falcioni,
Editor-in-Chief

Texans love to boast of how big everything is in the Lone Star State: sprawling plains and long distances, large-brimmed cowboy hats, big trucks, big steaks, big rodeos, and big business. And last month at the University of Houston, a big pot was boiling hundreds of pounds of crawfish. The Cajun Crawfish Boil, benefiting local scholarships and other academic programs, kicked off one of the biggest events in Houston each year, the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC), co-sponsored by ASME's Petroleum Division.

OTC is a celebration of an industry that two decades ago helped bring great fortunes to Texas. The earlier boon is over, but the energy industry continues to dominate the state's economy. Deepwater drilling has made a remarkable comeback in oil-producing areas around the world--and Texas is no exception.

The Gulf of Mexico in particular is re-emerging as a hot spot for oil companies that just five years ago were shipping out to regions overseas. Shell Oil Co., for example, is scheduled to begin producing natural gas from a field location more than 1 mile deep in the Gulf. Moreover, new seismic and drilling techniques are enabling independent producers to go after smaller opportunities closer to shore. "Those people who said the Gulf was a Dead Sea not too long ago were proved wrong," Assistant Secretary of the Interior Bob Armstrong said.

More than one-third of the offshore rigs operating in the world today are deployed in the Gulf. So the mood among most of more than 40,000 attendees and exhibitors at OTC this year was extremely positive. "The boon is back," said one executive from Petrobras, Brazil's largest oil company.

Given the high demand, rental rates for drilling rigs used in deep water have been averaging $135,000 a day. That's up from $97,000 last year and $60,000 five years ago.

The industry's relatively sudden growth spurt has not been without its problems, however. Lack of qualified workers, especially along the U.S. Gulf Coast, has left fabrication facilities in desperate search for workers. The problem has become so serious that some companies have turned down new business. While this might otherwise signal the positive state of the industry, total new business lost due to lack of personnel could total more than $100 million.

The dearth of qualified people is not limited to those who man the rigs. It extends to all the oil-field skills and rig construction. The problem can be traced to the industry's downturn in the mid-1980s, when experienced workers retired or left the industry and few young people studied petroleum engineering and geology.

Organizers of the crawfish boil and OTC hope these events can stir enough worldwide publicity and interest among young engineers to at least persuade them to consider careers in offshore-technology areas.

Of course, crawfish alone won't help the current employment problem. But if the enthusiasm of the young engineers who were at the boil is any indication, students are rediscovering the industry, and this will surely bolster the re-emergence of this recently dormant industry.

Email your comments or questions to: falcionij@asme.org