Job Losses Over Drilling Ban Fail to Materialize (unemployment, companies, layoffs)

[tigerlily]

All the rhetoric and hysteria over the moratorium on gulf oil drilling are proving to be unfounded. Companies have waited to see how long the moratorium will last before instituting spending cuts and layoffs. Hundreds have filed unemployment benefits, not thousands as some have predicted. After the false claims regarding the rigs leaving the gulf, only two of the 33 rigs have left for other fields. On the positive side, because of the moratorium oil companies have used the time to upgrade drilling equipment, keeping shipyards and service companies busy. Drilling firms are not laying off workers because when the moratorium is lifted they will need experienced workers. Also, oil companies have shifted operations to onshore wells, saving jobs as well.
Clip:
Michael R. Bromwich, the director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, the agency responsible for policing offshore drilling, said Monday in a letter to the presidential commission investigating the accident that it was possible that the moratorium would be lifted before Nov. 30 for certain types of rigs.
Mr. Bromwich’s boss, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, said the agency was “ahead of schedule” in drawing up new rules to allow drilling to resume and suggested that the moratorium could be eased as early as next month.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/25/us...gewanted=print

[Katarina Witt]

A refreshing breath of reality!

[NSHL10]

Boy do we set the bar low now. We are celebrating that only hundreds lost their jobs so far.

[tigerlily]

Originally Posted by NSHL10

Boy do we set the bar low now. We are celebrating that only hundreds lost their jobs so far.

Lots of workers in other fields have lost jobs during recession, but they have to rely on unemployment benefits. BP has set aside $100 million to compensate rig hands and support workers who lose their jobs because of the moratorium.

[NSHL10]

Originally Posted by tigerlily

Lots of workers in other fields have lost jobs during recession, but they have to rely on unemployment benefits. BP has set aside $100 million to compensate rig hands and support workers who lose their jobs because of the moratorium.

IMO it is a shame that they had to lose their jobs at all. Lost seniority matters. This loss of jobs wasn't due to the economy or the resession. It was due to a specifc govt edict.

Its great that BP is reimbursing them (hopefully in a timely manner).