In the span of two weeks, the Gulf of Mexico oil and gas industry has been presented two assessments of when drilling activity may begin to pick up. About a week and a half ago, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement Director Michael Bromwich, in a speech in Washington, D.C., said that his organization was working hard to grant offshore deepwater drilling permits. When pressed during the question and answer session, he said he would be “stunned” if it wasn’t until the third or fourth quarter before permits were awarded. He also said that in the future, the pace of granting permits in the Gulf of Mexico would not be as fast as in the past, which he knew would disappoint the oil and gas industry.
