This Financial Times article reports that preliminary assessments of the damage that Hurricane Rita caused to offshore oil and gas drilling and production facilities reflect that the damage is greater any other storm in history.
Rita’s path — which was west of the path of Hurricane Katrina last month — tore through an area of the Gulf of Mexico that contained a large amount of exploratory rig activity. Given the apparent damage to the rigs, the biggest impact from the storm may be that it will exacerbate an already tight market for rigs in the region. As a sign of just how precious rigs are becoming to the market, The Woodlands=-based Anadarko Petroleum Corp., one of the biggest U.S. independent exploration and production companies, raised eyebrows in the energy industry earlier this week by committing to a rig six years in advance.
Oh, how times have changed in the exploration and production business.