Slowly but surely the BOEMRE is getting business moving in the Deepwater Gulf Of Mexico. Today several companies operating in the Deepwater received some good news in the form of this press release from the BOEMRE:
http://www.boemre.gov/ooc/press/2011/press0103a.htm
FOR RELEASE:
January 3, 2011
BOEMRE Provides Additional Clarity for Certain Activities Suspended under the Deepwater Moratorium
Issues Notice to 13 Companies
WASHINGTON – The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) today notified 13 companies whose deepwater drilling activities were suspended by last year’s deepwater drilling moratorium that they may be able to resume those previously-approved activities without the need to submit revised exploration or development plans for supplemental National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews. Before resuming those activities without additional NEPA review, however, the companies must comply with BOEMRE’s new policies and regulations.
“Going forward, we are substantially enhancing our environmental reviews and analysis under NEPA,” said BOEMRE Director Michael R. Bromwich. “But as we move forward, we are taking into account the special circumstances of those companies whose operations were interrupted by the moratorium and ensuring that they are able to resume previously-approved activities. For those companies that were in the midst of operations at the time of the deepwater suspensions, today’s notification is a significant step toward resuming their permitted activity.”
Today’s notice lays out the steps these companies must take for previously-approved operations to restart. This includes compliance with new regulations and information requirements in Notices to Lessees (NTL) N06 and N10, and the Interim Final Safety Rule.
These operators will not be required to revise a previously submitted Exploration Plan or Development Operations Coordination Document (DOCD) if the worst-case discharge estimated for the project, as calculated pursuant to NTL-N06, is less than the worst-case discharge estimate included by the company in its Oil Spill Response Plan. However, if the worst-case discharge exceeds the Oil Spill Response Plan, further reviews will be conducted.
As described in guidance issued by BOEMRE on December 13, 2010, new exploration and development drilling operations must be conducted under new or revised plans subject to appropriate NEPA analysis (http://www.boemre.gov/ooc/press/2010/press1213.htm).
The 13 companies that received today’s notice are: ATP Oil & Gas Corp., BHP Billiton Petroleum (GOM) Inc., Chevron USA Inc., Cobalt International Energy, ENI U.S. Operating Company Inc., Hess Corp., Kerr-McGee Oil & Gas Corp., Marathon Oil Company, Murphy Exploration & Production Company – USA, Noble Energy Inc., Shell Offshore Inc., Statoil USA E & P Inc., and Walter Oil & Gas Corp.
This is good news obviously for the specific operations that can be resumed, but I think even more importantly it shows that Bromwich and Co. do intend to allow for business to resume in the Deepwater.
Yes it is going to be a tedious process, but drilling is resuming.
Two companies that appear on the list are ATP Oil and Gas and Colbalt International which I wrote about several times during the summer. Buying these companies since then has been a rewarding experience ( I owned ATP prior to the spill and that was not a rewarding experience !). From a low of $8.50 in the summer ATP is now pressing $17 and Cobalt has gone from a low of $7.00 to over $13 today.
Here is my original case for ATP and Cobalt:
http://www.gurufocus.com/news.php?id=101862
http://www.gurufocus.com/news.php?id=101391
http://www.gurufocus.com/news.php?id=102204
Cobalt isn’t a million miles off of its pre-Macondo high of $16.07 but ATP still has another 40% to go to get to where it was pre Macondo. And ATP is quite different now than it was pre Macondo. Production has doubled, they have over $500 million of liquidity in place, have eliminated all debt covenants and oil is over $92.
I thought ATP was a pretty good buy at $23 before production increased by so much so at $17 I’m still a fan. Of course I didn’t see the BP Macondo spill coming, so what the heck do I know.
Buying these companies in the wake of the spill sure seems like an obvious decision now. But I can promise you that it wasn’t at that time when their share prices were dropping like rocks and Anderson Cooper was telling us every night how evil drilling in the Gulf is.
Sometimes buying when there is blood in the streets is rewarding. The problem is you never know that it will be when you are doing it.
http://www.boemre.gov/ooc/press/2011/press0103a.htm
FOR RELEASE:
January 3, 2011
BOEMRE Provides Additional Clarity for Certain Activities Suspended under the Deepwater Moratorium
Issues Notice to 13 Companies
WASHINGTON – The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) today notified 13 companies whose deepwater drilling activities were suspended by last year’s deepwater drilling moratorium that they may be able to resume those previously-approved activities without the need to submit revised exploration or development plans for supplemental National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews. Before resuming those activities without additional NEPA review, however, the companies must comply with BOEMRE’s new policies and regulations.
“Going forward, we are substantially enhancing our environmental reviews and analysis under NEPA,” said BOEMRE Director Michael R. Bromwich. “But as we move forward, we are taking into account the special circumstances of those companies whose operations were interrupted by the moratorium and ensuring that they are able to resume previously-approved activities. For those companies that were in the midst of operations at the time of the deepwater suspensions, today’s notification is a significant step toward resuming their permitted activity.”
Today’s notice lays out the steps these companies must take for previously-approved operations to restart. This includes compliance with new regulations and information requirements in Notices to Lessees (NTL) N06 and N10, and the Interim Final Safety Rule.
These operators will not be required to revise a previously submitted Exploration Plan or Development Operations Coordination Document (DOCD) if the worst-case discharge estimated for the project, as calculated pursuant to NTL-N06, is less than the worst-case discharge estimate included by the company in its Oil Spill Response Plan. However, if the worst-case discharge exceeds the Oil Spill Response Plan, further reviews will be conducted.
As described in guidance issued by BOEMRE on December 13, 2010, new exploration and development drilling operations must be conducted under new or revised plans subject to appropriate NEPA analysis (http://www.boemre.gov/ooc/press/2010/press1213.htm).
The 13 companies that received today’s notice are: ATP Oil & Gas Corp., BHP Billiton Petroleum (GOM) Inc., Chevron USA Inc., Cobalt International Energy, ENI U.S. Operating Company Inc., Hess Corp., Kerr-McGee Oil & Gas Corp., Marathon Oil Company, Murphy Exploration & Production Company – USA, Noble Energy Inc., Shell Offshore Inc., Statoil USA E & P Inc., and Walter Oil & Gas Corp.
This is good news obviously for the specific operations that can be resumed, but I think even more importantly it shows that Bromwich and Co. do intend to allow for business to resume in the Deepwater.
Yes it is going to be a tedious process, but drilling is resuming.
Two companies that appear on the list are ATP Oil and Gas and Colbalt International which I wrote about several times during the summer. Buying these companies since then has been a rewarding experience ( I owned ATP prior to the spill and that was not a rewarding experience !). From a low of $8.50 in the summer ATP is now pressing $17 and Cobalt has gone from a low of $7.00 to over $13 today.
Here is my original case for ATP and Cobalt:
http://www.gurufocus.com/news.php?id=101862
http://www.gurufocus.com/news.php?id=101391
http://www.gurufocus.com/news.php?id=102204
Cobalt isn’t a million miles off of its pre-Macondo high of $16.07 but ATP still has another 40% to go to get to where it was pre Macondo. And ATP is quite different now than it was pre Macondo. Production has doubled, they have over $500 million of liquidity in place, have eliminated all debt covenants and oil is over $92.
I thought ATP was a pretty good buy at $23 before production increased by so much so at $17 I’m still a fan. Of course I didn’t see the BP Macondo spill coming, so what the heck do I know.
Buying these companies in the wake of the spill sure seems like an obvious decision now. But I can promise you that it wasn’t at that time when their share prices were dropping like rocks and Anderson Cooper was telling us every night how evil drilling in the Gulf is.
Sometimes buying when there is blood in the streets is rewarding. The problem is you never know that it will be when you are doing it.
