GoM domestic O&G issue

WASHINGTON - For years, international ships and crews have traveled through the Gulf of Mexico to construct the offshore platforms and deep-sea pipelines that allow oil and gas to be brought to market. But now, American energy and maritime companies are facing an issue of what to do with international crews under U.S. law - whether to require offshore O&G drillers to shift work to domestic workers, something lobbyists warn could decimate deep-sea drilling in the GoM. "It is the quintessential buy American, hire American law," said Aaron Smith, president of the Offshore Marine Service Association. At the center is s lucrative matter of how equipment and other materials are moved around offshore in the GoM. (Source: Houston Chronicle 04/30/17)