Clairce Bascle
June 1, 2017
June is a big month for summer safety
June 1, 2017
Heading south through Lafourche Parish isn’t much of a scenic drive – especially once one gets past Golden Meadow.
Basically, there’s a road, a bayou and marsh – not much else.
Oh yeah, and an economic engine which powers the country, too.
We can’t forget about that.
Tucked away in extreme southern Lafourche Parish sits Port Fourchon – one of the great energy hubs in the United States; an overlooked, underappreciated commodity that literally impacts every, single person in the country.
At present, work at the port is slower than it once was because of a sag in the price of oil – a prolonged dip, which has everyone sort of gritting their teeth.
But Executive Director Chett Chiasson said the port’s philosophy is never to sit idly when things go sour, but instead to plan for the future in anticipation of the next big boom – something which folks at the port say is expected.
“When things speed up, the work gets so busy that honestly, we might fall behind a little on some projects,” Chiasson said earlier in the year. “We use the downtime to try and outpace the demand and get ahead of the game so that we’re upstream when the next surge comes. It’s slow now, and a lot of people are hurting. We fully understand that. But we believe we have a resilient industry filled with resilient people. We fully expect things to pick back up.”
HUGE, UNKNOWN IMPACTS
For Port Fourchon, its impacts are significant.
A lot of those impacts are not understood and/or aren’t fully appreciated by the general public because the port is just a small flicker on the map and also because there’s not much to do in that part of the country except fish and work offshore.
For fun, The Times questioned 11 people this week at Southland Mall – six women and five men. Three were in the 18-29 age demographic and the others were 30-45.
Of the 11 people questioned, nine said they’d heard of Port Fourchon, but four of those nine said they wouldn’t be able to drive there without a map or GPS.
When the 11 people were asked to give a number from 1 to 10 on how important Fourchon is to the area with 1 being the least important and 10 being the most, the average number listed was 6.2, though business owners and those who fully understand what happens at the port would clearly say it’s a 10.
“People don’t truly understand and we know that,” Chiasson said. “People don’t realize the importance, nor the significance of what is happening in our back yard.”
According to a factsheet located at the port’s official website, the Lafourche Parish-based location services more than 90 percent of the Gulf of Mexico’s deepwater oil production.
In addition, Fourchon plays a strategic role in furnishing the country with about 18 percent of its entire oil supply.
Think about that: of every 100 barrels of oil used in America, 18 come from Port Fourchon. Putting dollar signs into that total shows that literally billions of dollars flow through the area through that port.
“I think how big the port actually is to your area, but also to the nation as a whole, is largely misunderstood,” noted economist Dr. Loren Scott said. “It’s vital to the community there, but it’s also vital to the state, the Southeast and in many respects, the country. The work that goes on there has a huge impact on the quality of life in many, many places.”
Now – for some more impressive facts.
Fourchon is the home of more than 250 oil and gas companies, which utilize the port as a base of operations, including some of the biggest companies in the world.
And on average, 1.5 million barrels of crude oil per day are transported via
pipelines through the port. People flow into and out pretty quickly, as well. Approximately 15,000 people per month are flown to offshore locations supported by Port Fourchon, and traffic studies show that up to 1,200 trucks per day go through the port.
RENT CHANGE AIDS PORT’S FUTURE
But lately, things at the port have been quieter than normal – a direct byproduct of the dip in the price of oil.
But port officials have been quick and fast-reacting throughout to ensure the future success of tenants within the port.
When the bottom fell out on the price of oil, the Greater Lafourche Port Commission voted to reduce rent on tenants at the port – a reduction that has since been renewed and still remains in place today.
Chiasson has gone on record multiple times and said the rent reduction was useful and something he supported because of the loyalty businesses have shown the port in recent years.
Louisiana Oil and Gas Association President Don Briggs agreed and said it was exactly what was needed to ensure future sustainability and success.
“The industry is slower than folks have become accustomed to, and companies were struggling to pay,” Briggs told The Times last fall. “That was the best thing for them to do – lowering the rent.”
By doing so, Chiasson said the port has stayed about as full as possible – even with the significant slowdown in work.
He said some companies terminated their leases at the port, but many others opted to just downsize in an effort to stay a float.
Last fall, the port’s occupancy was in the upper 90 percent range.
Today, it’s still about as full as can be expected – given the economic circumstances.
“Our customers are still there,” Chiasson said. “They’re staying the course.”
But make no mistake about it, things could certainly be better.
Chiasson said one of the most helpless things about being in the oilfield are the ups and downs, which have occurred several times over the past few decades.
But by dealing with other downturns, Chiasson said he’s also learned a valuable lesson, which he uses to stay patient.
He said his experience shows that oil sometimes goes to the mat, but never has he seen it get knocked out.
That history, he believes, is going to repeat itself, and when it does, Port Fourchon will be ready to work.
An overhead shot of Port Fourchon shows how massive the port has become in recent years. Port work is down, but officials hope it will pick back up sometime soon.
