Kadaicher,
Projects underway can continue subject to a 30 day federal review. Of course the reviews are more complex if there have been side-tracks etc. The increased risk aspect will still exist even under 30-day delays but new projects which are the victims of the 6 month moratorium will not necessarily represent a greater risk (however, i could be wrong as i suggest below).
Field engineers are fired en masse everytime the oil market takes a dive and there always seems to be a new batch and enough of the old batch available when the market recovers. I'm sure you know this but the others on the board may not.
Obviously, the non-US operations will proceed and many of the more experienced US field engineers may opt out of taking assignments in the less pleasant of those locations. Some of those folks will indeed leave the industry and when drilling in US waters resumes those jobs will have a higher percentage of non-US citizens. That probably won't be true for the less skilled rig jobs but the higher paying high-skill jobs which politicians should care about will be. I don't think the non-US field engineers will present a higher risk.
However, another aspect to this which few realize is that the unemployment rate in the delta region (excluding new orleans) was far below the US national average. It has been that way for many years. With both the fishing and a large chunk of the oil & gas industry now shut down, many of the newly unemployed will move out of the region. That will reduce the population from which the oil industry drew upon when replacing the lower-skill workers on rigs and boats. I suspect that may be the biggest source of increased risk because those are jobs that rely on local supply.
regards,
Charlie
News 
Market Data 
Discover 
