Tuesday, May 03, 2011
Houston Chronicle
by Brett Clanton
Phillip Bordelon may have summed it up best Monday morning in describing the mood of this year's Offshore Technology Conference.
"What it feels like? It feels normal again," said the salesman for Wild Well Control, a Houston firm that provides firefighting and well control equipment to the offshore industry.
He was referring to the contrast with last year's event, when BP's Macondo well was still gushing thousands of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico each day, and anxiety was at a fever pitch in the offshore oil and gas industry.
On Monday, as one of the world's largest gatherings for the industry began at Reliant Park, barely a year after the deadly Macondo accident, a number of exhibitors expressed a similar feeling.
"Last year, when all of that was going on, nobody had smiles on their faces," said Mike Mikulenka, director of marketing services for drilling and production systems with Cameron International, maker of the much-scrutinized blowout preventer on the Macondo well. "This year, everybody's a little more optimistic."
That optimism stems not only from the fact that the crisis has passed, but that drilling activity is resuming in the deep-water Gulf of Mexico and $100 oil prices are providing a tailwind for new global exploration.
But it's been a cautious return to normal. The industry still complains that regulators are not approving new offshore drilling permits fast enough in the deep-water Gulf. Uncertainty remains about new offshore regulations yet to come. And some companies have been slow to resume spending after the recession.
"People are still scared of the economy," said Tim Lewis, a salesman for Gefco, an Enid, Okla. company that on Monday had one of its giant portable land drilling rigs on display outside Reliant Center. Even so, he said, the mood is "tremendously better" than it's been in recent years.
In its 43rd year, the four-day Offshore Technology Conference is expected to draw more than 72,000 engineers, executives, technical specialists and other offshore professionals.
On Monday morning, the crowds appeared thin at first, perhaps because attendees were still digesting the news that U.S. forces had killed Osama bin Laden. But by midday, the park was bustling, with thousands from every part of the world, chattering in different languages and wearing everything from cowboy hats to dashikis.
"It's a good thing when you have this many people show up for OTC," Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson said in an afternoon panel discussion. "It's like the days of yesteryear."
In 1982, at the peak of an oil boom, the event drew more than 100,000 people. Last year, with interest high in Macondo issues, attendance reached 72,900, its second-highest ever.
Event organizers on Monday declined to estimate turnout. But attendance so far is beating the event's first day for the previous two years, said Stephen Graham, associate managing director of OTC.
Dean Madell, a division president of Houston's Wellhead Distributors International, agreed that the crowds looked fairly strong from the booth he manned in Reliant Arena.
And, without a doubt, the mood is lighter, a year removed from Macondo.
"That cloud," he said, "is long gone."
Copyright (c) 2011, Houston Chronicle. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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