Offshore drilling hits three-year high

There were 46 rigs drilling in Louisiana’s outer continental shelf last week, according to a count released Friday. That’s the highest weekly total for that area of the Gulf since May 2009, reports the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources. Patrick Courreges, a policy analyst with DNR, says that while the rig count is now back where it was a year before the 2010 BP oil spill, it’s still not at the level one might expect to see had there never been a post-spill moratorium and subsequent slowdown in permitting. Turnaround time on a deepwater drilling permit has gone from 250 days for an application in late 2010 to more like 150 days now, Courreges says; prior to the spill, the average wait time was closer to 60 days. “You’re not all the way back,” he says. “The companies are still investing out there.” —David Jacobs