Not gonna pick up their rigs and go home after all

As long as their oil is under our ocean, they're going to want to drill for it.

Tom Marsh, U.S. publisher of ODS-Petrodata, predicts a return to pre-spill activity in the Gulf, even if the new safety regime will require more patience than operators are used to.

"Eventually the government will get it together and the companies will get it together and stuff will start flowing in one end and out the other end," Marsh said. "Just because it takes longer to do doesn't mean there will be fewer rigs drilling. These companies have a lot of money invested in these leases.

"And another indicator that they will not just bail out of here: Several of the companies have bonded together to form the new spill-response groups. Clearly they're not going to make that effort if they intend to leave."

Whether or not they're going to drill safely depends on how inclined we are to make them.