have been the resource plays and the shale plays,” Orth said. “The earth-shaking, earth-moving events that have changed the U.S. and Louisiana oil production were declining roughly the same amount. It’s pretty obvious when you look at the blanket coverage of wells that have been drilled today,” he said. “At some point, hope-fully in our lifetime, the future is actually going to be deeper in south Louisiana. “Until that changes, I think we’re going to have a fairly long period of time here before we can turn this thing around,” Orth said. The main reason more onshore activity isn’t happening in south Louisiana is because “we’re up against the resource plays, particularly the Permian Basin” in west Texas, he said. Various factors will lead to companies drilling fewer wells, but, if successful, “they’d be more prolific,” he said. Resource plays, also known as shale plays, produce oil and gas through the use of horizontal drilling and fracking. Obstacles to drilling deeper include costs, size and competition with resource plays, particularly in west Texas, to attract investment from drilling companies. “You’ve got to apply seismic (imaging), and you’ve got to look deep if you’re going to have any future in south Louisiana.”ĭrilling deep wells requires the application of lots of science, which starts with seismic imaging, Orth said. “You can’t make a living on shallow wells anymore in south Louisiana,” he said. Therefore, small to mid-size companies need to attract investors to provide the capital required to drill deep onshore, Orth said. There isn’t enough deep oil in south Louisiana to get big companies, such as Exxon, to come back, he said. Orth is concerned about the future of the exploration and production business in southern Louisiana. The area from 15,000 feet to 30,000 feet “is kind of our new frontier,” Orth said. A mere 392 wells have been drilled beyond 20,000 feet. And the industry has only drilled 1,500 wells deeper than 18,000 feet. Of the 90,000 wells drilled in south Louisiana, 7,300 wells have been drilled deeper than 15,000 feet. Since 1901, nearly 90,000 onshore wells have been drilled across south Louisiana, producing 30 billion barrels of oil. ORX is an operating and producing company for oil and natural gas. The meeting was held at the Petroleum Club of Morgan City.

Jim Orth, president, director and co-founder of ORX Resources in New Orleans, was guest speaker during Tuesday’s meeting of the Atchafalaya Chapter of the American Petroleum Institute. He received a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from Loyola University.The south Louisiana oil and gas industry needs to attract lots of capital from investors to access fossil fuels over 15,000 feet deep and provide some hope for the future, an exploration executive says. He also assisted with the disposition of several office buildings owned by Met Life in the Central Business District and has represented buyers on building acquisitions in the greater New Orleans area.īruce is a member of the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors (SIOR) and local real estate organizations. Prior to joining Corporate Realty, Bruce worked with Equity Office for twelve years as Leasing Director for a portfolio of 2.3 million sf in New Orleans, and also at Lincoln Property Company, where he managed leasing for the Met Life portfolio of 2.4 million sf with Transwestern and Hines Interests. Notable transactions include Allstate (41,000 sf) at One Lakeway, IBERIABank (75,000 sf) at Pan American Building, Peoples Health (125,000 sf) at Three Lakeway, FMC (175,000 sf) at 1615 Poydras, Bio-Medical Applications (60,000 sf) at Two Lakeway, Shell Offshore (600,000 sf) at Hancock Whitney, and the GSA (75,000 sf) lease at Three Lakeway. Throughout this career, he has been responsible for leasing more than 20 million sf of office space, representing some of the most notable properties in the office arena, including IBERIABank, Dialysis Clinic, Inc., Baptist Community Ministries, Mariner, and ORX Resources, Inc., as well as engineering, legal, energy, and financial service companies. He applies his extensive market knowledge in tracking quarterly office occupancy in the greater New Orleans office market, published in a report used by brokers, agents, and owners. He has been an active leasing broker in the greater New Orleans area for the past 25 years. Bruce is a leasing broker who oversees leasing for 1.7 million square feet (sf) of office space in Metairie and New Orleans, including Lakeway Center.

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