Check it Out!
February 26, 2007Yvonne Cuneo
March 1, 2007
BP oil company took possession of its new storage and preservation facility located near the intersection of Hwy. 311 and U.S. 90, northeast of Houma this month. The facility was designed and constructed by Edison Chouest Offshore (ECO).
BP is in a 10-year lease agreement with ECO, for the building.
The agreement between BP and ECO was announced in late December of 2005 and was targeted for completion in late 2006.
According to Lonnie Thibodeaux, director of corporate communications for ECO, the new facility consolidates over 100 storage facilities from around the country.
A primary reason for the construction of the facility was to move assets further inland from the Gulf of Mexico, after a number of facilities in southeast Louisiana were damaged during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Thibodeaux called the project, “very much Katrina driven.”
Thibodeaux also said the centralized warehouse allows BP quick access to consolidated parts.
The building will be used to store and preserve materials in transit for use in BP’s drilling and completion, sub-sea and production operations.
Located on a 15-acre tract of land, the facility is 122,000-square feet, and allows BP to consolidate materials for its Gulf of Mexico deepwater operations.
Roger White IV, project manager for ECO, said key extras were added to the project.
“As is typical of Chouest,” he said, “there are lots of value-added items in this facility that were not in the original design. Needless to say, BP is ecstatic with the building and, best of all, the construction has been totally incident-free, with a total lack of safety issues.”
In BP’s winter 2006 newsletter, Thibodeaux provided a published quote from Patrick Gordon, Terrebonne Parish’s Planning and Zoning Director.
“Being the largest oil company out there, BP’s business will benefit the community, and other will follow. There is nothing at all there now, but if other companies join BP, you will start to see more commerce spring up in the area. This will be huge for the local economy,” Gordon said.
