Thursday, September 16, 2010

Noble (NYSE:NE) CEO Says Taking Some Deepwater Rigs Out of Gulf

Citing the highly controversial decision by the Obama administration to impose a deepwater oil moratorium on the Gulf of Mexico, Noble (NYSE:NE) CEO David Williams said at Barclays Capital (NYSE:BCS) CEO Energy-Power Conference that if things don't change soon, the company will have to remove some of the seven deepwater oil rigs in the region to other areas.

With the unpredictability and volatility of the Obama administration, Williams sees moving the rigs to Nigeria or Venezuela. He said, "Right now it looks a lot like Venezuela and Nigeria to me. So we will continue to accelerate our strategy of moving rigs out. The longer this goes, the more rigs we'll get out."

Four rigs are already out of the Gulf or committed to leaving the Gulf, all of them either from Transocean (NYSE:RIG) or Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc (NYSE:DO).

The Democrats behind this will be losing a lot of seats in the House and Senate next month, and hopefully will be replaced by those more friendly to business and the American people.

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