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Several oil service industry companies say they are in a bit of a predicament. Finding enough qualified workers to fill the positions they have open has become an issue.

“We have more work than workers,” said Eric Gagen, district engineer for Coil Tubing Services. “We need people definitely. We are turning down work for lack of personnel.”

A booming business is a good problem to have, Gagen and others say, but finding enough workers has become an ongoing challenge. At a recent career fair put on by Expo Experts in Lafayette, several oil and gas service companies were looking for new employees but the applicants were few at opening time. Many employers were expecting more job seekers to show up after 5 o’clock or later in the evening.

“Many people are already working,” said Tracy Dawson of Expo Experts. “The companies here are more selective about what they are looking for.”

“I’m having trouble finding experienced people,” said Craig Murray of Cudd Energy Services. “2008 was a bad year, but (this year) has been very busy for us. We’re busy, and we’re staying busy.”

Don Briggs, president of the Louisiana Oil and Gas Association, said he believes the

Lafayette area has emerged as a hub for the domestic oil and gas service industry.

“We train them and they can work here and they service out of state as well” said Briggs. “As we know, the financial center (of the industry) moved to Houston. But the service sector of the industry seems to continue and develop in the Lafayette area.”

Briggs said this is true even though the rig count in Louisiana is actually down from 178 rigs last year to 119 rigs this year. But he believes new developments in drilling technology have fueled a growth both here and across the country.

Many companies say one area in which job seekers won’t having any trouble finding work is in the engineering and scientific fields. Frank Edwards of Conestoga — Rovers & Associates said his company is looking for geologists and mechanical, chemical and environmental engineers, as well as graduates in the sciences. His advice for students hoping to find work after college is to stick to those fields.

“An engineering or a science degree will get you a job,” Edwards said.

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The country is experiencing an oil-and-gas boom touching nearly every state in America.

Shale plays that are producing dry natural gas and oil have become reachable thanks to the new technologies surrounding hydraulic fracturing and lateral drilling. However, there is much talk surrounding a “slow down” in new wells being drilled in Louisiana. What’s often missing in the discussion is the cause of the decline and the chances for a market recovery.

As of this time last year, Louisiana had 178 rigs drilling for resources. Today, Louisiana has around 119 rigs drilling. Keeping perspective, Louisiana now boasts of 48 rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, which is nearly back to the amount of rigs prior to the 2010 oil spill. The southern portion of the state has 28 rigs running, while the coastal inland area is seeing around 18 rigs.

The newly reachable Tuscaloosa Marine Shale, an oil play, has three rigs running at present time. While still in the exploratory phase, TMS has great potential to add to Louisiana’s thriving oil-and-gas industry.

However, the decline in rig count in Louisiana is due to the natural gas sector. As the demand for natural gas has not equaled the now available supply of natural gas, thanks to the many shale plays across the country, the price of natural gas has dropped to a 10-year low. Due to this downturn in natural gas prices, Louisiana’s Haynesville Shale play has seen many of its operators scale back their “dry” natural gas operations. As recent as two years ago, the Haynesville Shale had more than 140 rigs running compared to today’s 26 rigs.

Several keys factors play into how soon the natural gas demand will increase, thus causing the prices to return to a competitive rate. As the automotive industry makes strides in producing more vehicles that run off compressed natural gas, or with the possibility of the exportation of liquefied natural gas and the increasing demand for natural gas as an electricity provider, the demand will only increase with each month. Again, as the demand for natural gas increases, the production will return, the rig count will climb and the economy will only grow stronger.

While the talk continues of a rig decline in Louisiana, the need for employees is still large. Oil field service companies are at job fairs, frequently reporting that the need for quality employees is still high.

What causes a need for employees when rig counts are declining? Possibly due to the newer wells being drilled to depths of 12,000 feet, and then stretching out another 4,000 feet horizontally. With deeper and longer wells, comes the need more material and additional machinery, potentially producing a necessity for more manpower.

The rig count has dropped, many parishes are experiencing a decline in tax revenues, and the price of natural gas is low. However, with the hope of a market recovery and the numerous wells being added thanks to Louisiana’s crude oil supply, the industry will only continue to thrive, thus helping to stabilize the Louisiana economy in uncertain times.

Don Briggs is president of the Louisiana Oil and Gas Association. His column is published every other Thursday.

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Though the earnings numbers seem grim, Anadarko’s second quarter had several operational bright spots, from its record sales volumes in Texas fields to new natural gas discoveries offshore Africa.

During a conference call with analysts Tuesday morning, company executives touted the company’s successful exploration and appraisal programs worldwide. Anadarko experienced major discoveries and growing reserves during the quarter, from the Gulf of Mexico to Mozambique.

“The company produced several significant accomplishments, which speaks to the power of the portfolio we have accumulated,” Chief Executive Officer Al Walker said.

Anadarko reached a record 742,000 barrels of oil per day in sales volumes, an 8 percent increase over the second quarter of 2011.

Executives credited its Caesar/Tonga development in the Gulf of Mexico, which had its first full quarter of production, for a portion of the record volume. That development reached production of 40,000 gross barrels of oil from three wells. And the company plans to spud a fourth well there during the third quarter.

“Caesar/Tonga is doing phenomenal,” Chuck Meloy, senior vice president of U.S. exploration and production, told analysts. “We expect the wells to stay on peak for quite some time.”

Sales volumes also doubled over the year in  several fields across the country, Walker noted.

The Wattenberg in northeast Colorado produced about 85,000 barrels per day during the quarter from 75 horizontal wells. Anadarko plans to increase activity there from  seven horizontal rigs to 10 over the next several months, leaders said.

Meanwhile, Anadarko reduced its operated rig count in the Marcellus shale in the northeast and moved activity to the Wattenberg field, where Walker said the company is realizing higher returns.

Operations in the Eagle Ford, Marcellus shale, and the East Texas horizontal well program also reached record sales volumes, he said.

“We’re experiencing what I would consider explosive growth at virtually every one of our significant U.S. onshore plays,” he said. “That’s a great spot to be in.”

In Africa, Anadarko expanded its exploration and appraisal program offshore Mozambique and announced new natural gas discoveries. The company also made its first oil  discovery offshore Cote d’Ivoire in west Africa.

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McMoRan Exploration Co. MMR -0.50% today provided an update on the Davy Jones No. 1 workover currently in progress on South Marsh Island Block 230. As previously reported McMoRan successfully perforated 165 feet of Wilcox sands and on July 13 commenced operations to run production tubing. Prior to removing the blow out preventer and installing the production tree, McMoRan performed a routine pressure test on the seal system, which indicated that the seal assembly located at approximately 16,400 feet needed to be replaced. McMoRan believes the seal assembly was impacted by the increased use of high density mud used in operations designed to suppress flow in the well. Once the well is stable, McMoRan plans to install a production packer above a new seal assembly which would enable a double seal completion. As a result, the flow test previously anticipated during the week of July 30 is now expected to be conducted during the month of August 2012.

James R. Moffett, Co-Chairman, President and CEO of McMoRan, said: “In our efforts to unlock “Davy Jones’ Locker”, we encountered flow in the well prior to setting all of the production tubing. To address this, we have modified our original design to include a double seal which should allow us to achieve a measurable flow test and bring the well on production safely. While we are disappointed by the delay, we are encouraged by the well’s attempts to flow. We look forward to obtaining results from the measurable flow test as soon as possible to determine the potential of the first shallow water, ultra-deep sub-salt completion on the Gulf of Mexico Shelf.”

As previously reported, McMoRan has drilled two successful ultra-deep sub-salt wells in the Davy Jones field. The Davy Jones No. 1 well logged 200 net feet of pay in multiple Wilcox sands, which were all full to base. The Davy Jones offset appraisal well (Davy Jones No. 2), which is located two and a half miles southwest of Davy Jones No. 1, confirmed 120 net feet of pay in multiple Wilcox sands, indicating continuity across the major structural features of the Davy Jones prospect, and also encountered 192 net feet of potential hydrocarbons in the Tuscaloosa and Lower Cretaceous carbonate sections.

Davy Jones involves a large ultra-deep structure encompassing four OCS lease blocks (20,000 acres). McMoRan is the operator and holds a 63.4 percent working interest and a 50.2 percent net revenue interest in Davy Jones. Other working interest owners in Davy Jones include: Energy XXI EXXI -2.39% (15.8%), JX Nippon Oil Exploration (Gulf) Limited (12%) and Moncrief Offshore LLC (8.8%).

McMoRan Exploration Co. is an independent public company engaged in the exploration, development and production of natural gas and oil in the shallow waters of the GOM Shelf and onshore in the Gulf Coast area. Additional information about McMoRan is available on its internet website ” www.mcmoran.com “.

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While rejecting TransCanada’s initial Keystone XL pipeline application to build the pipeline across the border from Canada, President Obama has embraced the southern leg of the project, which would ease a bottleneck that is slowing the movement of oil supplies from Canada and North Dakota to refineries on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.

On March 22 in the Cushing, Okla., oil terminal and pipeline crossroads, Obama directed agencies “to cut through the red tape, break through the bureaucratic hurdles, and make this project a priority . . . and get it done.”

On Friday, TransCanada received the last of three permits it needed from the Army Corps of Engineers to begin construction on the 485-mile stretch of pipeline.

The permits dealt a blow to efforts by national environmental groups to slow the momentum behind the southern leg of the project — now also known as the Gulf Coast project. Those groups, including Friends of the Earth and the Sierra Club, have urged their Texas supporters to send comments to the Army Corps, which governs pipeline permits there. The groups have highlighted dangers linked to wetlands and rivers.

But the Army Corps have moved ahead. The Galveston branch on June 25 gave TransCanada the go-ahead for a stretch of the line, even though the agency said that the 36-inch pipeline would cross 654 “aquatic features.”

“Please let us know when you complete your project by returning the enclosed pre-addressed postcard,” the Galveston District regulatory branch chief Fred L. Anthamatten said in his letter to TransCanada’s Houston office.

The Galveston District said that TransCanada would use horizontal drilling to burrow under the water areas, but in some places would have to offset damage by buying credits from the Piney Woods Wetland Mitigation Bank, which was established by The Conservation Fund in 2008 to restore native hardwood forest.

On June 29, the Tulsa, Okla., branch of the Corps also issued a permit for the line and the Fort Worth district added its approval Friday.

Environmental groups have appealed to the Environmental Protection Agency to step in under the Clean Water Act and overrule the Army Corps.

Keystone is not the only project that environmentalists and their allies are seeking to block by appealing to the EPA. Activists are opposing permits for massive mineral extraction projects in the Rocky Mountains, Northwest coast and Alaska.

Under the Clean Water Act, EPA can veto any Corps-approved operations that would severely impair important waterways. The agency has invoked this power only 13 times.

In Alaska, a coalition of tribal leaders, fishing operators and environmentalists are fighting a proposed gold and copper mine, which could affect the Bristol Bay watershed. In May, the EPA found that a large-scale mining operation would harm fish habitat in the region, which boasts nearly half the world’s sockeye salmon.

Jason Metrokin, president of the Bristol Bay Native Corp., said that dozens of tribes in the area have urged EPA to scrutinize the Pebble Mine’s impact on their traditional way of life and a commercial fishery worth nearly $500 million a year.

“People in Bristol Bay have been living off salmon for 10,000 years,” Metrokin said. “It’s the social lifeblood of Bristol Bay. It’s a subsistence lifestyle.”

Northern Dynasty Minerals and its subsidiary, Pebble Limited Partnership, have not yet formally applied for federal and state permits. Company officials argue the EPA should hold off judging the project until the permits are under review.

Thousands of miles away others are trying to derail three proposed export terminals in the Pacific Northwest that would ship coal mined in the Powder River Basin to Asia.

K.C. Golden, policy director for the advocacy group Climate Solutions, said the EPA should step in if the Corps fails to weigh regional impact as well as the greenhouse gases that will be released once the exported coal is burned. “We need a thorough, comprehensive federally coordinated review of the full set of impacts,” Golden said.

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