ENERGY SUPPLIERS FIND FRESH LIFT FROM OFFSHORE WIND

By Neanda Salvaterra  Aug 7, 2017 7:10 am ET  WSJ.com Editors 

Gulf Island Fabrication Inc. is one of several firms trying to turn its expertise with building offshore oil platforms into an edge in a new business: offshore wind, writes The Wall Street Journal’s Erin Ailworth.

The Houston-based company—which recently built the foundations for the first U.S. offshore wind farm, near Rhode Island—is one of many oil-and-gas industry suppliers seeking to diversify into offshore wind, as lower oil prices take a bite out of that business.

Overall 18 wind projects are proposed for U.S. waters.

“For energy-services companies, finding new revenue streams is crucial as oil and gas from onshore shale formations continue to flood the market. Over the past three years, the number of rigs drilling for oil and gas in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico has dropped by roughly 75%, to 16 rigs on Friday from 63 in late August 2014,” the Journal reports.