1 specific cleari
ont rollers
The Battalion sections
as irv
•'ig lo
plane was.,
l '<l. adding dm
ig they
u ' obtain |U
s tation Admins
il companies facing loss of exploration leases
MTOR'S NOTE —On Aug. 11.
,,..i iv , rJ were 64 rigs drilling for oil in
ual flight rukt|; u //- () i Mexico. On the surne
war, there were IS2. The
e in petroleum prices has
_xl offshore exploration, but
. l ! sl w; new factor is coming into nlnv:
imation by thP h
Of h()W lutlllrl.i
w>erm a continuing senes exum-
preventtd. ■ / ]mr ( / je decline in oil prices
mffected people and business
. Md the nation.
lie smaller era-
night
• ect radio conti
Bradley said,
will, I
■e hundred miles off the coast
Louisiana, Ocean Drilling and Kx-
afion Co. did something this
>f this fo >nth that rarely happens in these
Reves saidBil depressed energy; it started
Hg an oil well.
riskv Ix-caust iDKCO’s gamble in the Gulf of
Hithern (ali(c»» () was prompted neither by the
congestion,ait* upturn in oil prices nor a
men who like B 1 ^ a barrel would sell for
planes, andtliwMybme soon. The company
full knowlfd#! because it faced an Aug. 31
t lanes," lies
A/ortk soiit
slum <xre&.
deadline to explore the Vermillion
Block 295 lease, or lose it.
Vermillion Block 295 is erne of
2,300 unexplored leases bought by
oil companies for a total of $6.4 bil
lion and due to expire from now
through 1988. Interior Department
rules are simple: drill it or lose it.
Before the plunge in petroleum
prices earlier this year, drilling in the
Gulf was booming. Now, with oil at
SI5 a barrel or so, just half the going
price of 10 months ago, expensive
of f shore exploration is a bust.
And so may be those vast lease in
vestments, experts say.
But there may be a silver lining in
this oil industry black cloud, indus
try of ficials say. If companies rush to
drill the properties before their ex
piration dates, the Gulf, and the
onshore economy dependent on it,
could see a mini revival.
“If there’s any hope at all, that’s
the hope,” said Mike Simmons of
Offshore Data Services Inc. in Hous-
ton. “That’s where drilling will be
done, on those leases.”
Still, Simmons predicts that a ma
jority of the 2,300 leases rvill be re
turned to the Interior Department
undrilled.
“The S6.4 billion is money that’s
already been spent,’’ he said. “Com
panies have to make decisions on
their future and not necessarily
throw good money after bad.”
Oil company officials say they are
scrambling to find ways to salvage
leases. Sun Exploration is deferring
drilling in other areas to explore its
Gulf prospects; Texaco is looking to
“farm out” leases to smaller oil com
panies because it won’t explore all its
properties before their expiration
dates.
And ODECO is hoping to cash in
on the big boys’ predicament by
grabbing all the “farm outs” it can
get. The company has set up a leas
ing task force to hunt deals as dead
lines near.
Vermillion Block 295 was pur
chased at auction by Chevron. But as
the expiration date neared, Chevron
decided to farm out the drilling to
ODECO in exchange for a share of
ownership, ODECO officials said.
ODECO president and chief exec
utive officer Hugh J. Kelly, said, “A
year’s drilling has been deferred,
and a compression of time left on
those leases is occurring. The oppor
tunity to acquire excellent explora
tory prospects is growing.”
The Interior Department held its
biggest auction in May 1983, when it
put the entire Gulf on the block for
the first time and sold 1,029 leases
for $4.9 billion. Most of those leases
expire in 1988, but to drill them all,
companies would have to step up ex
ploration next year.
Amoco exploration manager
Tony Benson said those deadlines
could spark an upturn in Gulf dril
ling, despite depressed prices.
Any neyv drilling means jobs in
the economically ravaged Gulf coast
area, yvhich has seen the boom days
of five years past dissolve into a bust.
Giant rigs line inland bays. Rousta
bouts and roughnecks line up at un-
emplovment offices throughout
southern Louisiana. Business bank
ruptcies are at all-time highs in the
area, and state budgets in oil states
are strapped as oil tax revenue and
royalties dry up.
Chevron is now planning its 1987
exploration budget and trying to
squeeze more cash for government
Gulf leases, spokesman Brent Wood
said. At the same time, the company
is farming out leases, like Vermillion
Block 295.
“We’re not pursuing any dump
policy,” Wood said. “We’re just pro
ceeding cautiously.”
Texaco has explored one-third of
its Gulf leases and plans to drill “a
number of additional leases betyveen
now and 1988,” spokesman Joe
Kelly said. “Those leases that Texaco
yy ill not be drilling are available for
farm out or other consideration.”
Sun doesn’t yvant to lose any leases
and is “shifting money slated to
other leases to drill some of the ear
lier expiring leases,” spokesman
Tom Sullivan said. “We don’t yvant
to return any of them. Hopefully,
w'e’ll have enough money to drill ev
erything.”
Sun’s earliest expiration dates fall
in 1988.
Leases that expire are put back on
the auction block, but the process
takes about two years, said Barney
Congdon, spokesman for the Miner
als Management Service of the Inte
rior Department.
Because rigs have been dis
mantled, creyvs have been laid off,
exploration departments have been
dismantled and entire industries
that service offshore drilling have
been devastated, gearing back up for
the 1988 deadline will be difficult,
Simmons said.
1 kiyol (where, the
ufint* ko.vt to -pignt
fcflinelr 3 £ t '•b
study lijCe.
o. person from
d*Jjes witk ok. +r»ih.
piefutt o. tmin d*r»«l[hg
pij k«re taltpnj Avnjcroos
finicojj..,^
ntotnoU^y <
m l bvidiMf
tojdVr J
fes sense, tht .
sets on one stit
I viiket the
B'/I'J J towx,
ie SlU
Wijfcd sife -for
Il Cartoonists?)
® Mansion.
Seed JTgct
ckV a train j k<w*VeY-
{ Okl meek time t<
- t' eu it ifeei for
n p«kMy
ar« h«re, and
f hext class
in Zachry in
win. J-forjet iff
r
Let's jwst Say, Willie
yValsort would be cCf
borne In these places.
^
I
‘irrrnq
Areas toR
"StopiJ pOk-rKiry?
TwcKs "
t
ifia.
Xce cream
dorms "fhai"
alike an,
SUn bo., t'bi >vg
“Place. N\oS«« b
s with
Avevyue
ugkt fi
+h« |p
Ld cm
Somebod y MOTi
wearing an
Iz.od shirt*.
—■■HLi
A yna.ll t'hat*
isn't half
empty-
Some Food Places
(actually they're —
of
blets
HONS Carve
eif/l them —
areas
^Keh heh beb)
C.S. Post Office
/he
u/^vERsxry pi».
\
Cinema X ,14-Jg f but" you
can only see one
at* a t i me)
Some
X dont* khow
..j.re you
rent an e
A car th*~t •
should be ba.//-pecn
hammered to death
Sbisa
Dini ng (?;
Half
(where a lot* of
CatTng and
k com plaining goes
orv.
Bis Blv e Y4.+e.r 7syytt(Thi*
iTructUre IS paihTfcd
sKy-hlue and is therefore
impossible to set > )
Bk
Jh
yeu- „
i-EAPEK
DIP ,
TAVK
Hanri ng to n Bid,
you gotta have class
to i>e In these
bu; Id i ng f.
y.m.c.A Bid.
c-kep, BU.
you're right.
Who cares?
Ptc». d McDonald
Building 1 where tho
paper
read i ng
you'r e
from. ^el|o,6uysf)
The most
disgust/*
Posters yo'
ever seen
you carvt
here overnig
M.
-Raiders
Ac<^g« mic Pus
The lone
Tow
Kinda jfoee*
est rood in
t
T o AhotKer-
Tow h
^Zachry Ei
-'77TT
I
|KTntersectien Hatf-
Popolar Wlfb Car*
(where
engineers
0 - Te: .
designed/
Fire
Ants
Area erf
hot King t’o
Comment*
Oh.
More places foe The.
phone CO. to dig ho\ei
and cot phone cables
I \ '
/ N/
Buried
kubi’K's
Cube,//
(This sport can
now be cured
with the new
polo Vaccl ney
\f
cza
■hleric
ms.c,
msCELLA-
NE.0US
L A-rv^V-;.
orlum-Theater.
Pfrs'.'N'i (where they show
;i.sTT ] movies you
t'SyiScui T ' ca" i heaV.j
/^uirrels . ,
not % i>c
mistaken tor
fresh wen
Hwiuhu.
Library - the
one bui Iding
.more crowded
than the
football
Stad iuYVN.
Cam Athletic
(TVUTggites House
Lot
Sfa-d’ivm .
one of tin
itrt one of the
r campus
IS played./
: s
aboutl
s-fandine
room only
for the
Uth wat^)
gym where
i we ho/d our
music concerts:
thati Hghtjj
our music N
conce rtsT
Sieged ,,n ' T T.. People AVXIOdSLp^Z
patTalion- i ~
Parkih9
Minimmmm.lui;
KAMU
miles an d
Iwthlno but
end miles
Area. Tor Tennis
court jesters.
miles
mi leS
I
inti Atffje (where l_Lff
beginning skiers Wt (?
slp^s— with
(paused byjumpl^
on your
Too har
the
impq.c*
/
PBS TV Station
(the best college President's Mansion
Station m town) (Negotiable Lease)
I Home of Van ‘*'o e tr
hAdooKs liK.^Jlast years winner of the
‘ ,,K '
Line -for Football] i/niv«>~*i ty. .MitO-
j-.l ^ j ^ I .gtfttUlll.—give 'em a. .
Tickets ends | breaK> Mow ij y 0U pfa
^ here. f 0 To control
W*
b)
A lot of
rd cVa.p
.The Commons--Me
a
th
Arch; teefuge.
. Build mg-
(Artiits a.re.
drawn t«> +Ks
p lace
V/x—where ftO&ON
Threw his beer can.
AJrninLstro-tion.
lii-.--.where all the right
decisions are mader
J-P you believe that, why
_are you in college?
1
. Several
Restaurants
vnorSe Is
be..."
//vi ng ^n an airporfi
■ ' ■ ^ W I IV S /X
iMj.nSa, - they )•? you
/ 1 lY
H A lot of Corps
of Cadet BuildihgS
(home
crewet
wcuT/
j^tfdinS- _ they say if you
Md this bui Jd ing 1 to YOUR 1 '
y^dead Mf£. v <tudVn1^|~' <
ik drinking
Pestahli shments,
for established
dri n Kers.
/
cars foe
scared f 0
Running
Hermit people
not a required
course) s/ 1 4'/
Area rumor
to contain
non- students 1
flolf ^rse
\~A street
thati too
darn |
narrow:
* CorpsBahd Hall
(where men and
women -p/nally .
Band toge-tbeR.)
Historic Site of at’^ ORCUP,*.**
HiSToric SI le °rjJ SIN6ING
once reported- HE soyyVD ^
parking f music"
space. / : -
Y yd'Sjr TRAPP FAHlLf
V,
ly.s-. City Ml
where utilities
that cost way
too much are
paid for.
mi
Togger's TracK (place you
bets please)/——
~“ THE SIGHTS AND
Fite
Statipr^
orijinal
name of
this city
before
they
changed
it. 3
TEXAS ASM
Campus full of US ?
BanEir* Si f*— where We Sacrifice
outhouses ft> the GoAs
SITES OF <x victory
UMIVERSITT ANO BoRPERS
Lake of Lost
Gol-F balls
with love by SO-Called artist Sco~lb W^Tu IkhH
To a. water
tower (wkick
"Mie towh is
hatned after)
§0 CY M. jg js|q W open
sh
OF COLLEGE STATION
_41 cold
disc.
“The Choice of a
New Generation”
DELTA CHI
FALL RUSH ‘86
PEPSICOLA
it
Swallow It Whole Party
Thursday, Sept. 4,8:00 pm
John Helwer
775-2130
Alcohol will NOT be served.
Sponsored by Pepsi
The House
846-5053
LOUPOTS
NEW
LAUNDROMAT
OLD COLLEGE
THE HOUSE