Photo by Ken LaRive (oilfield worker now unemployed)
There was a time when we would scramble for the morning paper just to find the market price of Crude. Oilmen thought there was a correlation, somehow, between the price of a barrel of oil and drilling speculation. We were wrong. What we see these days is unprecedented, and no one seems to know or understand why we aren’t drilling off the Louisiana coast, much less Florida, Alaska, or California. It looks, heaven forbid, as if the price and motivation are artificially induced, and so, without being invited to any “inner-sanctum” meetings, all we have left in confusion and fear. If this trend continues, Louisiana will be in deep trouble.
Yet, with all going against it, the oilfield’s free enterprise system continues to fight.
New technology is moving ahead in spite of the seemingly flat-line of drilling, or what some have called “the roller-coaster ride.” Competition in the market is fierce, attempting to stimulate growth, and imagination, once the key to success, still attempts to light the way.
We can now transport natural gas, something we have an abundance of here in Louisiana, and we should be reaping this benefit now, but the overwhelming preliminary red tape to get a well drilled in Louisiana makes it an exceedingly difficult hurdle for a contractor. It is compounded by our own Federal government, now under the control of Obama and his Liberal mandates attempt to cause change with crushing and crippling blows. Drilling goes elsewhere, overseas, and we sit on our hands bewildered, and at a loss.
Every year Houston hosts the SPE, and it is amazing to behold! It was like being in a Jetson cartoon! New experiments with lasers will make explosives down-hole a thing of the past, and looking at a holographic image of a salt dome made from 3-D seismic surveys, is truly an awesome thing to see... Holding a 3X3 foot sheet of flimsy plastic up to a directional light source displays an image that seems to be floating in the air about a foot from the surface. You would swear it is tangible, but when you put your hand out to touch, its just empty air! Not only that, but you can actually see what the formation looks like from any angle, except for the very back, and one can actually see the salt dome squeezed like toothpaste from one formation cap-rock to another.
So what is our future, Louisiana? Well, the oilfield has always been a bumpy road, and more for some than others... Reading the international oil and gas newspaper “Upstream” this morning, tells of a growing US confusion in the oil-patch, and how Obama seemingly wants to destroy it, so as to change direction.
Ask yourself a couple of questions: Why are oilfield offices moving from New Orleans and Lafayette, to Houston and Dallas? Ask Louisiana lawyers and politicians how they themselves keep flourishing, while our state goes down the preverbal tubes! Mr. Obama: Why must we damage the oilfield in order to develop alternative fuels?
The future is knocking; do we have the Louisiana leadership to hear it? If we don’t, we’ll be left in the dust...
Under Cap and Trade some businesses will be taxed out of existence, government and lawyers will continue to grow, and in the loop-holes they themselves have designed, cover Louisiana industry with more litigation and taxation. If lawyers are left to their own devices they will destroy Louisiana medicine too, which, thank God, has displaced a bit of our lost oilfield revenue. Already doctors are going elsewhere for a lot of reasons, but mostly it is because insurance is eating them alive! But don’t kid yourself, without oilfield revenue, all Louisiana business will suffer.
Know this: The oilfield will always go to fertile ground, even if there are fewer resources at another source. With an unclear and seemingly hostile government, who could blame them!
Ever watch a surfer? The surf boils beneath him as he waits for his wave. Miss one stroke and that wave is gone forever! All he can do is wait for another one, and in the case of the oilfield, that wave may be seven point five years from now, the potential time of Obama! We have seen it all before, the boom and the bust! Are we preparing for the good times ahead, or is both citizen complacency and a government based on personal agendas holding us down?
Tell your congressman your thoughts, get involved. We the people can change things if we try. Yell at them: “Stop Cap and Trade, and drill now!”
Comments
I am an economic environmentalist: a productive busniess requires a certain environment in order to thrive and grow. Such things as taxation, regulation, legal abuse, excessive unionism, all are pollutants in the economic environment, and they tend to have negative effects on business. The energy business is no different. A business which seems enormously healthy and prosperous can disappear almost overnight when it's environment changes. We see it all around us: General Motors, Chrysler, the American tire industry, so many have either disappeared or moved out. In general, people are crazy and hav it coming.they are destroying the Goose that laid the Golden Egg.
I'd like to get a serious answer to that question, Why are oil and gas companies, and our workers, being moved to Houston?
A lot of different reasons. One primary one is that most all Oil Companies are now there, and it is easier and far less expensive to call on them. Small companies go under too, and others pick up the ball there. Also there is a lot of red tape to drill a well here in Louisiana, so I'm told. Wish it were otherwise, but I have seen the roller coaster so many times... I don't see the reasons why we are not drilling. Perhaps there is a liberal way of making money in alternatives...
Got something to say?
Examiner.com is looking for writers, photographers, and videographers to join the fastest growing group of local insiders. If you are interested in growing your online rep apply to be an Examiner today!