Study: Offshore Workers Call 68% Of Congressional Districts Home

HOUSTON, 12 July, 2010 – Offshore rig workers live throughout the United States, not only along the Gulf Coast, a new study conducted by the International Association of Drilling Contractors demonstrates. The study illustrates that job losses and dislocations caused by the ongoing deepwater drilling moratorium and the de facto shallow-water moratorium have a national economic impact.

The data on residences of 11,875 offshore employees showed that these workers call 68% of all US Congressional Districts home.

The study drew data from nine offshore drilling contractors and one boat company supporting the offshore industry. Residences of these workers are spread across 296 Congressional Districts. There are 435 Congressional Districts in the United States.

This study does not include the thousands of workers at oilfield service companies, large and small; equipment manufacturers, whether “mom and pop” operations or publicly traded firms; nor at oil-producing companies.

“Each direct rig job is supported by four to five support personnel, whether working offshore or on the beach,” Dr Hunt said. “Beyond that, as this study shows, communities across the United States depend on the wages of offshore workers.

“The economic trauma that this deepwater moratorium is causing spans the entire United States,” Dr Hunt warned. “Offshore workers call all of America home.”

 

Editors: Maps detailing population concentration by Congressional District in JPG format and high-resolution PDF versions are available!

US Offshore GOM Employees by Congressional District – Nationwide

 

About IADC

IADC is dedicated to enhancing the interests of oil-and-gas and geothermal drilling contractors worldwide. IADC’s contract-drilling members own most of the world’s land and offshore drilling units and drill the vast majority of the wells that produce the planet’s oil and gas. IADC’s membership also includes oil-and-gas producers, and manufacturers and suppliers of oilfield equipment and services. Founded in 1940, IADC’s mission is to improve industry health, safety and environmental practices; advance drilling and completion technology; and champion responsible standards, practices, legislation and regulations that provide for safe, efficient and environmentally sound drilling operations worldwide. IADC holds Accredited Observer status at the International Maritime Organization and the International Seabed Authority, specialized agencies of the United Nations. The Association is a leader in developing standards for industry training, notably its Well Control Accreditation Program (WellCAP)® and rig-floor orientation program, RIG PASS®. IADC is headquartered in Houston and has offices in Washington D.C., the Netherlands, Thailand, and the United Arab Emirates, as well as chapters in the UK, Venezuela, Brazil, Australasia, South Central Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and across the United States. For more information, visit the IADC website at www.iadc.org.