A key issue in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) has been the bottleneck in permitting underwater machining at the Bureau of Safety & Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) since the big reorganisation that created it in 2010. For GoM service providers, it has meant a slowdown in decommissioning activity even though the Idle Iron directive seemed to promise a boom. 2012 was one of the toughest years in decommissioning and well abandonment I’ve seen in a decade,” said Express Energy Services’ vice president Tom Slocum in an interview with DecomWorld in February. But a senior BSEE official has said that an ongoing recruitment drive is starting to take effect and that the permitting process should speed up. Mactech’s Take: While 2012 may have been a slow year with regard to subsea decommissioning, there was still plenty of work to be done in the gulf. This lends kindly to Mactech Offshore’s ability to perform both underwater machining jobs and topside service work. Our versatility is one of our strongest assets and will remain a growth driver as we move forward into 2013 and beyond. The news from BSEE that the bottlenecks will be removed and permitting will speed up is a very positive sign within the industry and Mactech Offshore looks forward to being able to support the industry growth as more and more permits for decommissioning are issued. Original Article Found at Decom World: http://analysis.decomworld.com/