US labour and rig costs soar

BACK in the 1980s, when petroleum prices went south, a bumper sticker began appearing on the back of some pick-up trucks in the oil patch that read: "Lord, let us have another boom. We promise we won't mess this one up." Now that the boom has materialised, drillers would like to make an additional request: "Could you send us some rigs and also some skilled workers to operate them?" Anne Feltus writes.

Energy companies are rushing to pump as much oil and gas as possible out of the ground and into the pipelines to take advantage of high energy prices. Because most of the big, easy-to-reach reserves have already been tapped, operators must drill more wells more deeply in order to maintain production levels. High depletion rates in the US' ageing fields and the growing demand for natural gas are also driving drilling activity. As a result, more than 37,250 wells were drilled in the US in 2004 – a rise of about 22% over the year before and more than double the number drilled in 1999. Not surprisingly, the demand for drilling rigs has also reached a record level. However, the supply of viable r