Khloi Rose Charles
May 24, 2016
Shrimp season starts off Louisiana shores on a steady keel
May 24, 2016
Some marine businesses specialize in one thing — maybe two if they’re feeling ambitious.
But for Hot Energy Services in Houma, the game plan is a little different.
Those guys do a little bit of everything.
Open since the 1980s, the oilfield service company continues to evolve, possessing a number of useful skills including the cleaning of storage tanks, paraffin removal, environmental cleanup and just about anything else that makes offshore work more efficient.
“We do a lot of stuff,” said Zach Giroir, vice president of operations. “We have 16 employees and combined, they have more than 300 years of combined experiences. Companies use our services to have a smoother run. We’re the ones who help make sure that everything that happens out there is as efficient as possible.”
For Hot Energy Services, Houma has been the company’s home from day one.
The business started in 1988 and is owned by a group out of Oklahoma City that specializes in oilfield service work. Businessman Michael Piatt is the company’s president.
Giroir said Hot Energy Services has maintained its day-to-day operations out of a couple spots, but the locations have always been in Houma.
Today, the company operates at 921 Dunn St. — right on the side of the Houma Navigation Canal tunnel on the west side part of town.
Giroir said the business’s top clients are Hillcorp, Swift Energy, Texas Petroleum, Whitney Oil & Gas, Dimension Oil & Gas, Energy 21 and Tanner Resources, among other companies.
“Houma is home,” he said. “This is where we’ve always been.”
Since their start in operations, Giroir said efficiency has been Hot Energy Service’s calling card and through that mantra, the company has evolved to encompass many things.
One of the main jobs the company focuses on is paraffin removal — a process that saves drilling companies time and money.
Paraffin is a waxy material that is found at drill sites during the extraction of oil from the earth’s surface.
While oil is being pulled up to the surface, paraffin often clogs the line, which causes the extraction process to take much longer if the problem isn’t remedied.
“It’s like if someone has an artery that’s blocked. Obviously that means the right amount of blood can’t flow through the heart, which causes a big probem,” Giroir said. “It’s almost the exact same thing. This paraffin comes in and clogs up the line and stops the flow from being as clean as it should. We have a way of going in there and keeping things flowing.”
Once that process is complete, Hot Energy Services is just getting started. Giroir said the company is licensed and certified to clean up the work site and move hazardous materials and chemicals to where they’re properly taken care of.
“There are some dangerous chemicals out there,” he said. “We go in there, remove those things and bring them to disposal sites so that they can be handled in the right way.”
The company is also on the scene if something goes wrong in the extraction process, as well.
Giroir said Hot Energy Services has several workers trained in environmental cleanup — a skill that comes in handy when any problems arise.
As soon as oil begins leaking in the water, Giroir said Hot Energy employees can get on the scene to contain, then begin work on eliminating the problem.
“We have experience in emergency spills,” he said. “We are trained and have the ability to get out there and clean it up. We also have the equipment to clean the tools used in the industry. We can pressure wash oily equipment and other things that need it after the job takes place.”
Just about anything that makes the job easier, Hot Energy Services is willing to do it.
Giroir said that’s the recipe that’s allowed the company to stay rock-in’ — more than 25 years running.
The vice president said the company has seen its business slow in the economic downturn, but he believes it’ll pick back up as the industry stabilizes and the price of oil slowly trots back up.
“It’s a little down,” Giroir said. “But we’re hopeful it can get back up. We like what we do. We maximize oil production for the oil majors.
“We do some of the work people don’t think about. But we do it with a smile.”
Open since 1988, Hot Energy Services takes pride in its ability to enhance drilling efficiency. The company specializes in paraffin removal and environmental cleanup efforts.
