Gulf Drilling Halt Starts to Sting

According to a report from Reuters, the moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico has begun to bite oilfield service companies, with market analysts now forecasting lower than expected spending on new projects in the region and pressure on drilling stocks. A survey of companies released by Barclays Capital on Wednesday, June 16, showed oil and gas producers would likely spend $1.6b less on exploration and production in U.S. than they had expected at end-2009 because of the moratorium.

(Source: Reuters)