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Detailing: Hes a

shining example. D5

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HoustonChronicle | houstonchronicle.com and chron.com | Sunday, December9,2012 | Section D

FredCeasarwas a barber inAlexandria,La.,before heapplied withEnsco.He was hired as a roustabout in 2006 andthreeyearslaterwaspromoted to assistantcrane operator. Henowearns twice asmuch as he did as a barber.

Ensco

How hot is oshoredrilling?So hot that its

hard to findenoughroust-abouts, mechanics and experi-encedmanagersto sta alltherigsunder construction.Sohot thatEnsco,with six

new rigsset to debutover thenext two years,will need1,000more people, saidKurt Basler,

the companys manager of stra-tegic stang inHouston.Sohot thatsome20,000 to

25,000oshore workerswill be

neededindustrywideover thenext two to three years,Baslersaid.Theshortagesare acute ev-

erywhere, saidSteve Colville,presidentand CEOof theInter-nationalAssociation of DrillingContractors in Houston.

Thesearch forworkerswiththe right skillswho wouldbethe rightfit hassent companieslike Ensco looking outsidetra-

ditional oil andgas businesses.Not everyone is enthusiasticaboutworking 12 hours a dayfor upto 28days straighton adrilling righalf a world away.Butwith the right training,

even a small-town barber canmake a lot ofmoneyon a rig.

Thelast five years haveseenan explosion in thenumberofcountries seeking to exploittheirenergyresources,Colville

said. That, in turn, is causing asurge in drilling activity.Add to that the eect ofan

agingworkforcethat is begin-ning to retirein bignumbers,he said.Many workers puto retirement duringthe last

Searching the seven seas

RECRUITING

ByL.M. Sixel

Recruiters continueson D6

There nevermayhavebeena more

prominent cheerleaderforwintergloomthan thenatural gas industry of2012.Nothing would make

ithappier, it seems,thandark cloudsand anArctic

chill to keepAmericansindoors.Thats because a warm

winter fora secondstraight year couldbecatastrophic, cuttingdemand for naturalgas-consumingheatandelectricity andpresent-ing serious challenges forsomeenergycompanies.

But anotherwarmwin-ter may be onthe horizon,according to governmentprojections.Andthatwouldbe

negative for gas produc-ers, said James Sullivan,an analyst forAlembicGlobalAdvisors.Someof thosewith

Prospect of awarmwinterbrings chills togas producers

CLIMATE

ByZain Shauk

If you thinkWestheim-eris a shoppingmecca

now, just wait.More retailis onitsway.Atleastthree newreal estate

projects areplanned or underway along a short stretch of

the citys longeststreet. Others arecloseby.Last week,a

national devel-oper announcedplans to restart a$450millionproject it shelved

duringthe recession.RiverOaks Districtwill break groundnext yearat 4444Westheimer,just inside the 610 Loop.

Amajor component of the

15-acre development is 270,000square feet worth of retail.Thats asmany as 80 stores,says the developer, SanDiego-based OliverMcMillan,whichplans to break groundnextyear.Westheimer is the address

inHouston, particularly for

Overthe topwithplacesto shop

REAL ESTATE

NANCY

SARNOFF

OnDec.5,2009,it wasa frostydayin Houstonfor joggersalongBuf-faloBayou.Theremight

notbe manychilly timesthisyearor in2013 for theU.S., whichcould hurtthe naturalgas industry.

James Nielsen /

HoustonChronicle

Projects continueson D2

Low gas continues on D4

HoustonChronicle

RiverOaksDistrict

MillenniumHighStreet

Future

development

mi.

610

59

W.Alabama

Westheimer

SanFelipe

TheGalleria

HighlandVillage

Sa

ge

Po

stOak

Weslayan

Mid

Ln.

Richmond

Westpark

Oshore industry looks for workers far beyond the conventional sources

LOREN

STEFFYCommentary

Dont feel sorry forthem.

Thats themost commonre-sponse I get whenI write aboutvictims of investment fraud,whether its thosewholostmoney inR.Allen StanfordsPonzi schemeor some otherscam.

Fewcrimesseem

to invoke less sympathy

forvictims.The reaction tomyrecent column about investorssuing the law firms theyclaimhelpedenable Stanfords$7.2 billion swindle wasno dif-ferent. I heard, once again,howtheinvestorswere being greedyor stupid.They gotwhat theydeserved.Its not aboutbeinggreedy,

anditsnot about being stupid,

Texas State SecuritiesCom-missioner JohnMorgan toldme.Its a lotmore complicatedthan that.Morgan shouldknow. Before

becoming commissioner,hespent more thana decadeinthe enforcementdivision.Hesprobably interviewedmore conmenthan anyone in the state.

These people arecharis-

matic, he said. Itsoundsveryplausible, what theyre saying.Consider Stanford. Sure,

heran anoshore bankthatpromised above-average re-turns,whichshould havebeena redflag. Yet he told investorstheircertificatesof deposit wereinsured. He sold the fake CDsthrough a registeredbrokerage,

Think you cant be scammed? Dont be so sure

Stefy continueson D2

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