Oil Drilling United States

U.S. oil companies seeking to squeeze more oil out of fields once thought to be depleted are beginning to turn to horizontal drilling, a technology that has the potential to boost output significantly, industry experts said. Oryx Energy Co. announced this week that it will horizontally drill up to 85 wells in South Texas, and Burlington Resource Inc.'s Meridian Oil Co. has made a similar move in North Dakota.

USX Corp. unit Marathon Oil Co. agreed to pay $7.7 million to the U.S. government to settle claims that it failed to pay royalties on oil drilled from leases on federal and Native American lands, the Justice Department said. The settlement, which covers alleged underpayments between 1988 and 1998, brings to an end charges brought by two whistle-blowers that Marathon, along with other oil companies, tried to shortchange the government on royalty fees. Former Atlantic Richfield Co.

A ban on new offshore oil drilling along the coast of California was rescued Tuesday by the House Appropriations Committee, foiling an attempt to renew gas and oil exploration for the first time in 14 years. A bipartisan team of lawmakers from several coastal states--who lobbied colleagues through the weekend and tallied votes into the final hour--rejoiced over the 33-20 decision.

President Clinton will unveil a plan today intended to permanently protect coral reefs in the northwest Hawaiian Islands and set a course that would ban fishing, offshore drilling and other activities from sensitive ocean waters, a White House official said Thursday. Clinton will order the Commerce and Interior departments to designate "marine protected areas," marked by diverse marine ecosystems.

So passionate was Rep. Don Young as he decried the evils of oil rigs bobbing off the nation's coastline, it was hard to remember this was the same Alaska Republican who recently slapped a walrus penis bone in his hand while chatting in his office with a wildlife preservationist. Also there in his office: a whale vertebrae, a moose rack, a brown bearskin and the heads of a deer, a ram and a boar.

Oil Rig Count Drops By 21: Baker Hughes Inc. reported that the number of working oil and gas rigs in the United States dropped by 21 last week to 668. The count lagged last year's total of 799 rigs, the Houston tool maker said. Earlier this summer, the rig count dropped to a record low of 596. Last week, the tally climbed by 11 to 689. The count is a widely watched index of domestic drilling activity. It represents the number of rigs actively exploring for--not producing--oil and natural gas.

Rig Count Posts Gain for 2nd Week: Baker Hughes Inc. said 13 more oil and gas rigs were working this week, bringing the widely watched index of domestic drilling activity to 645. The gain, the second in as many weeks, represents an apparent upswing after two record low counts of 596 and 610. But the total still lagged far behind last year's tally at this time of 881.

Attempting to draw a starker contrast with his rival for the governor's job, Democratic gubernatorial nominee and Lt. Gov. Gray Davis on Wednesday asked Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt to help block oil drilling from undeveloped tracts off the California coast. Though President Clinton last month extended a moratorium on new oil and gas drilling until at least 2005, the ban does not cover as many as 83 existing federal leases for oil platforms, most off Long Beach, Ventura and Santa Barbara.

So passionate was Rep. Don Young as he decried the evils of oil rigs bobbing off the nation's coastline, it was hard to remember this was the same Alaska Republican who recently slapped a walrus penis bone in his hand while chatting in his office with a wildlife preservationist. Also there in his office: a whale vertebrae, a moose rack, a brown bearskin and the heads of a deer, a ram and a boar.

A ban on new offshore oil drilling along the coast of California was rescued Tuesday by the House Appropriations Committee, foiling an attempt to renew gas and oil exploration for the first time in 14 years. A bipartisan team of lawmakers from several coastal states--who lobbied colleagues through the weekend and tallied votes into the final hour--rejoiced over the 33-20 decision.

A coalition of California legislators, some of them bitter political enemies, joined forces Wednesday in an effort to rescue a 14-year moratorium on offshore oil drilling, launching a dual strategy to extend the ban another year and then make it permanent. The next showdown comes today, when an House Appropriations Committee takes up this year's Interior Department spending bill that--for the first time since 1983--contains no moratorium on coastal gas and oil exploration.

Shell, Amoco, Exxon in $1-Billion Oil Project: The companies will jointly develop the deepest offshore oil rig ever used in the Gulf of Mexico, Shell Oil Co. said. A 41,000-ton platform will be installed in 3,218 feet of water about 125 miles southeast of New Orleans and 80 miles south of Mobile, Ala., a Shell spokeswoman said. The companies expect to extract 60,000 barrels of oil and 200 million cubic feet of natural gas daily after production starts in late 1997.

Rig Count Is Highest in 18 Months: For the first time in more than 18 months, the number of rigs exploring for oil and gas in the United States has topped that of the same period in the previous year. This week's tally of 803 surpasses the 797 for the same week in 1991. Of the rigs running this week, 393 were exploring for oil, 399 for gas and 11 were listed as miscellaneous. The rig count, monitored by Houston-based Baker Hughes Inc., is the widely watched index of domestic drilling activity.

After a long slump in the nation's offshore drilling, a surge in natural gas prices has renewed interest in the gas-rich Gulf of Mexico and pumped new life into the industry, experts say. But it could be years before idled rigs go back to work, and for some struggling companies, that will be too late. Even if offshore drilling recovers, analysts predict that it will not approach its former size.