2015 Oil & Gas

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2016

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As prices fall, local jobs remain on the line

Pump prices put the squeeze on the local economy

See the top taxpayers in Terrebonne Parish

Industry in Flux

Cheaper gas

Local taxpayers

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Industry In Flux

Oil and gas jobs continue to be on the line as pump prices plummet ‘Oil prices very possibly will remain low in the high 40s to 50s [per barrel] for some time to come.’

DON BRIGGS

President of Louisiana Oil and Gas Association

‘What’s really happening is the market is seeking equilibrium. ...

Now it’s a market and it’s likely to overshoot and undershoot ...’

DON BRIGGS

President of Louisiana Oil and Gas Association

BY JEAN-PAUL ARGUELLO jp@rushing-media.com Among people who know how badly the oil industry is suffering in the United States are the oil workers of south Louisiana.

Oil production and service companies, which employ a significant portion of workers who live in the Houma-Thibodaux Metropolitan Area, have let hundreds of people go in recent months.

According to statistics provided by the Louisiana Workforce Commission, of the 1,100 jobs lost in the last year, 700 were in the “mining and logging” category, which includes offshore oil service companies. The commission attributes the loss of those jobs to the falling price of oil.

As with all unemployment statistics, LWC’s figures do not include people who have given up hope of finding a job. It only counts those who are currently receiving unemployment benefits.

But with oil prices continuing to dip, the fear of becoming a jobless statistic is shared among many offshore workers.

According to Don Briggs, president of the Louisiana Oil & Gas Association, there are now 71 oil derricks on Louisiana soil where, in past years, the state has averaged 114, and 31 offshore production platforms when there were generally 60.

Energy economist Loren Scott said Houma and Lafayette are suffering the most.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil, the benchmark price index for U.S. produced crude, was trading at $44

per barrel in mid-September, a price not seen since early 2009, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Local energy economists project that is not going to change within the next year. The EIA predicts WTI crude will trade at an average $54 per barrel in 2016.

“Oil prices very possibly will remain low in the high 40s to 50s [per barrel] for some time to come,” Briggs said.

Scott has a more optimistic prediction, putting the average price per barrel between $55 and $60. He said Credit Suisse, a major worldwide financial institution, predicts the global demand for oil will grow 1.7 percent because of growth in developing countries.

According to a report issued by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in mid-September, the world economy is predicted to grow 3.1 percent in 2015. OPEC attributes the growth to developing nations. Still, the developing nations consume a fraction of the oil the U.S. and China consume per capita.

He said there are other reasons why demand for oil will grow, but couldn’t go into details because they are embargoed until mid-October, when a detailed report on the state of the industry in Louisiana will be released.

Scott agreed the oil industry will likely experience growth in 2017, but would not provide specifics, citing the embargoed report. “There’s a whole chapter on Houma,” he promised.

Raoul LeBlanc, senior director of

financial services for Information Handling Services, a financial analytics firm, also said the oil and gas industry should experience growth by the end of 2016. The growing demand for oil in developing countries coupled with long-term projects in energy production are expected to drive the market.

Many future projects are planned for the Gulf of Mexico, which LeBlanc predicts will see “a lot of momentum in deepwater” in the next couple of years.

In order to understand what will happen, though, it’s important to know why oil prices are so low.

WHY ARE GAS PRICES SO LOW? The primary reason oil has been priced so low since December of last year is because Saudi Arabia is waging an economic war on U.S. shale play production, Loren Scott said.

Today, the U.S. consumes 23.3 million barrels of crude oil and other liquid fuels per day, according to Briggs. The entire United States including the Gulf of Mexico produces 13.9 million barrels per day. The country still imports nearly half of what America consumes.

Since 2008, the U.S. has increased its oil production by 85 percent thanks to advances in hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling in the shale oil plays of the Northeast and Midwest regions, Scott said.

“No other country in the world even came close to that,” he said.

The United States has grown its oil and natural gas production so

much over the past seven years that it is now the number one producer of natural gas in the world and is neck-and-neck with Saudi Arabia to be the number-one world producer of crude oil.

That scares Saudi Arabia, historically the world’s leader in crude oil production, because they depend on oil to pay for between 80 and 85 percent of their government spending.

The dilemma Saudi Arabia is now facing is similar to the one they faced in the 1980s when the U.S.S.R. began producing record levels of oil.

Non-OPEC countries began producing more and more oil, increasing worldwide supply, so in order to bring the price of a barrel up, Saudi Arabia cut production dramatically.

According to LeBlanc, the difference between now and then is that Saudi Arabia, being the lowest-cost producer of oil in the world, is facing huge increases in the world’s supply of oil, largely thanks to growth in U.S. shale.

“Historically, they were the market balancer. If there was a market imbalance, if there was a surplus, they would cut production,” LeBlanc said. “The problem they were having, if they had cut production … let’s say they cut 500,000 barrels per day, that would’ve propped up the price, but in another five or six months, the U.S. would’ve grown by 500,000 barrels per day.”

Scott said the U.S. had imported 66 percent of its oil from Saudi Arabia at one time, but now imports only 43 percent. That translates to a loss of SEE INDUSTRY, PAGE C4

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INDUSTRY: Saudi Arabia waging war on U..S. shale producers; pumping out oil at peak capacity FROM PAGE C2 2 million barrels sold to the U.S. every day.

As if the loss of its share of the U.S. energy market wasn’t enough, shale oil producers began selling their oil, Scott said. But oil produced from the shale plays is light, sweet oil. The over-supply of light crude caused the worldwide price for light crude to drop. Shale producers tried to sell their crude to the U.S. refineries in the south, but those refineries are set up to refine heavier crude.

There has been an export ban on oil in the United States for more than 40 years. The intent was to increase energy independence and security, but there is no export ban on refined petroleum products.

As Scott explained, shale producers built a tiny, $500,000 refinery to skim a little bit of the volatile gases off the top of the sweet crude.

The resulting product was considered by legislators as a refined product, so the shale producers began to export the light crude, which the U.S. is not equipped to refine.

“They were able to just do a little minor refining and export a barrel of oil,” Scott said. “When the Saudis saw that, they said, ‘First of all, you ate dramatically into our U.S. market. Now you’re going to start eating into our international market? I don’t think so.’”

So, while Americans were enjoying Thanksgiving dinner in 2014, the 12-member countries of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries met to discuss cutting production of crude to prop up the price.

Many OPEC members need oil to sell at much higher prices for production to be viable. Unfortunately for them, OPEC voted not to reduce production.

Saudi Arabia is historically the swing producer of crude in the OPEC countries. The country exports more than 7 million barrels of crude oil per day, according to the OPEC website.

With their massive share

of the average 30.1 million barrels a day OPEC countries collectively produced in 2014, Saudi Arabia can single-handedly affect the price of crude worldwide by choosing to either cut or boost production.

“The OPEC countries, especially Saudi Arabia, are determined to cripple the U.S. domestic oil shale players to the point that it will bring down their production so that the Saudis can continue and grow their market share,” Briggs said. “It’s really a shoot-out between the U.S. oil shale players and

Saudi Arabia.”

And that is exactly what is happening. Saudi Arabia is producing as much oil as they have the capacity to, flooding the world market with oil that costs them $8 to produce, Briggs said.

According to a July report from Business Monitor International, a leading financial information service, the majority of U.S. shale oil plays will break even as long as crude trades at $80 per barrel or more. The more developed shale plays can remain profitable so long as crude trades at $40 or more

per barrel.

Some shale plays are easier and cheaper to extract oil from than others because of their geological properties.

For example, the Fayetteville Shale Play in Arkansas is the most expensive play and the most vulnerable to volatile oil prices.

LeBlanc said the average break-even price for a barrel from American shale plays is in the $55 range, which is still less than last year, when the average was between $65 and $70. He said the average breakeven price for offshore production platforms is between $15 and $20.

According to the EIA, the break-even price of oil for shale plays in the United States will continue to drop as the production companies that can withstand prolonged oversupply in the world crude market make advancements in technologies.

But LeBlanc said he believes the break-even number is meaningless because some plays are cheaper to produce from than others, so oil producers are doubling down on the most profitable wells anyway when the price of oil is low. So although there is less drilling activity, production levels have remained high because most of those wells weren’t producing much oil anyway.

WHEN WILL IT END? Oil industry workers may have to wait more than a year for the price of oil to

rise to acceptable levels, according to prominent energy economists.

Much depends on the amount of economic growth in developing countries over the course of the next couple of years.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is comprised of 12 countries, which all depend on oil exports to support their governmental budgets.

No country depends on oil exports more than Saudi Arabia.

About 89 percent of Saudi Arabia’s budget is supported by exports, according to the EIA. That money pays for social services, law enforcement, roads, bridges and education, as well as other services.

“Has [Saudi Arabia’s overproduction] hurt America’s shale plays? Yes,” Chris John, president of the Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association, said. “Has it devastated them to the point of where they thought [it would]? Absolutely not.

In fact, I think the damage is done and I think we can hang in there where we are longer than they can hang in there.”

According to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Finance, their 2015 budget will suffer a $38.6 billion deficit, nearly 17 percent of their budget, due to the lowered price of oil. The country has $733 billion in savings, though, according to the EIA, which it can use to bridge the financial gap.

But not all of the OPEC countries have a piggybank as full as Saudi Arabia, though.

For example, Venezuela has some of the largest proven oil and natural gas reserves in the world and was one of the founding countries of OPEC. In 2013, the country was the ninth largest exporter of crude in the world.

But Venezuela’s economy is highly dependent on oil exportation. According to the EIA, Venezuela is currently suffering a 63.8 percent inflation rate. Several news agencies have reported that the country is printing money as

fast as it can to keep up with rising prices and citizens are buying U.S. dollars on the black market to maintain their wealth.

“Many countries came to view those lofty price levels as sort of the way life was,” LeBlanc said. “They’re really hurting. Their budgets and their finances and their economies are having pretty severe strains.”

LeBlanc said Venezuela needs a barrel of oil to sell at $90 or more to make a profit, finance its government and avoid runs on its currency.

Venezuela called for an emergency OPEC meeting in August and again in mid-September to discuss cutting production to the OPEC oil basket. In fact, LeBlanc said, there have been 15 calls for emergency meetings among OPEC countries, but not a single one came from Saudi Arabia.

Venezuela, Nigeria, Algeria and Lybia are all OPEC countries that are suffering greatly right now as a result of oversupply. These countries and other nonOPEC countries have been producing record levels of oil in order to maintain market share and revenue levels, according to various news sources.

“There’s a tremendous amount of civil unrest developing within those countries,” LOGA chief Briggs said. Each country needs oil to trade at an average of $100 per barrel to maintain their governments, he said.

With no sign that Saudi Arabian or U.S. oil producers are going to cut production anytime soon, the question remains: when will the over-supply end?

Leblanc said OPEC has only “temporarily abdicated their role of market-maker.”

U.S. shale represents advances in technology that are here to stay. As the market has shown, LeBlanc said, U.S. producers are not willing to cut production to bring the price of a barrel up, and neither is Saudi Arabia – at least not in the near future.

While the price of a barrel of crude was over $100, U.S. shale producers rushed to grow their share of the world’s market, but they grew faster, probably, than the demand for crude did, LeBlanc said.

“What’s really happening is the market is seeking equilibrium,” LeBlanc said. “… Now, it’s a market and it’s likely to overshoot and undershoot, but we think [south Louisiana’s oil and gas market is] going to equilibrate in the next five years.”

The equilibration mark, economists agree, may be closer to $70 per barrel.

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Mineral Royalties Down

Mineral royalties payout $2M lower for Terrebonne Parish Simultaneously, drastic drop in oil prices slashing parish’s sales tax revenue

KARL GOMMEL karl@rushing-media.com

A drop in global oil prices means the Terrebonne Parish government will receive about $2 million less than expected in mineral royalties.

The parish’s 2015 budget projected $5 million in revenues from mineral company royalties. However, parish chief financial officer Jamie Elfert said the parish does not expect to reach $3 million in royalty revenues this year.

According to Terrebonne Parish President Michel Claudet, the decrease for this year is connected to the plunge in global oil prices.

“We used to receive royalties based on $100 barrels of oil, and now we have $40 barrels of oil,” he said.

Claudet is correct in his assessment of the market, as oil sold for more than $100 per barrel in June 2014, and was selling for less than $40 in August.

The drastic drop in oil

prices is also affecting the parish’s sales tax revenues as well. Terrebonne saw a 14 percent drop in sales tax revenue in the month of August, as the many locals who work in the oil industry have less money to spend.

Elfert says that the reduced returns on mineral royalties have affected projections for next year’s budget. Though she says the parish is still not sure about next year, 2016’s initial figure of $5 million could be too high.

“Between 2015 and 2016, we could lose as much as $4 million in revenues,” Elfert said.

Parish Councilwoman Beryl Amedee said the council has been working hard to rework the budget with the lower numbers.

“We have been making budget adjustments all summer related to reduced revenues the parish government is experiencing in relation to the current economic lull,” Amedee said.

However, the reduction

in revenues won’t affect the day-to-day work of the government. The revenues from mineral royalties go toward future projects, according to Elfert.

“As of right now, we’re not cutting any operations,” she said. “We just won’t have any excess capital.”

Elfert explained that the future projects funded by these revenues are non-recurring projects such as roads, bridges, drainage projects, levees and fire trucks. Claudet said all the projects currently underway will not be affected.

“The good part about all the projects we have going on here, every one we have I believe is funded,” he explained.

Elfert backs up this notion, saying that the projects supported by the mineral royalties do not start until the money is readily available.

“We wait until the money is in the bank, then plan the project,” she said.

‘Between 2015 and 2016, we could lose as much as $4 million in revenues.’

JAMIE ELFERT

Terrebonne Parish Chief Financial Officer

Lafourche projects likely on hold with mineral royalties down 35%

BY JEAN-PAUL ARGUELLO jp@rushing-media.com In Lafourche Parish, royalties received from oil and gas production on its land help pay for basics such as roads, drainage and even civil defense.

But with the price per barrel of oil the lowest it’s been since 2009, the slice the parish gets is coming from a much smaller pie.

According to Renita Jackson, director of finance for Lafourche Parish, royalties the parish collects are down by more than $1 million – nearly 35 percent – this year compared to collections made this same time in 2014.

What that means for citizens of Lafourche is those dollars that were used to build drainage projects, repair roads and help the animal shelter aren’t as plentiful as they were in years past.

But the hit to mineral royalty shares collected by Lafourche won’t be felt until 2016.

“We’re not going to see an immediate impact only because we already had a decent [mineral royalties] fund balance for [2015] and because the parish president has decided not to [start] additional projects scheduled for 2016,” Jackson said. “We want to still have a decent fund balance [to start those projects].”

Essentially, the parish collects mineral royalties continuously each year, but the money isn’t spent until the following budget cycle. No project, purchase or department’s budget is dependent on mineral royalties because parish officials don’t know for sure how much money they will truly get from mineral royalties each year, Jackson said.

So, with the reduction in mineral royalties, 2016 will have very few construction projects started in the parish.

The only insulated parish offices are the seven recreation departments. They each collect their own taxes and “historically have healthy fund balances,” said Archie Chaisson, administrator for Lafourche Parish.

In 2014, Lafourche Parish collected $5.7 million in revenue from mineral royalties. Jackson presented the parish’s proposed operating budget to the Parish Council last week. It projects that the parish will only collect a little more than $4 million from royalties.

But that money is there to supplement budget shortfalls when they arise. For example, last year, $2.5 million was taken out of the royalty account to pay for drainage projects. More than $1.2 million was also spent on

simply supplementing the 2014 budget.

Other parish departments and programs benefitting from mineral royalty dollars include the Lafourche Parish Animal Shelter, the Commission of Women, Road Sales Tax District 2, the Lafourche Parish Library, the South Lafourche Beachfront Development District and even civil defense.

“If we continue to see the downward trend, we’re going to have to start cutting back on spending for some of these programs and projects,” Chaisson said. Various programs don’t have dedicated sources of income, so they will suffer first.

“The mineral royalties fund has historically been kind of a lagniappe fund for us,” Chaisson said. But the reduced mineral royalties Lafourche collects is not nearly as great a concern as the potential reform of the watercraft tax credit offered by the state government, he said.

The Louisiana Senate killed a constitutional amendment that would have exempted offshore vessels from paying property taxes to coastal parishes during this year’s legislative session.

The amendment would have freed the state from having to reimburse vessel owners a full

tax credit for a parish tax.

The tax, which goes to parishes but then is refunded to vessel owners by the state, was the target of legislators seeking to close a $1.6 billion budget gap.

That credit was left untouched, but several Louisiana lawmakers have said the credit needs to be examined because it essentially uses state money to fund parish governments.

“It’s already come back up in that it’s going to have to be addressed,” Chaisson said. “The Legislature will likely have a special session in the early part of January. That’s our bigger fear because that’s 40 percent of our budget versus just a couple of million dollars of royalty dollars.”

‘If we continue to see the downward trend, we’re going to have to start cutting back on spending for some of these programs and projects.’

ARCHIE CHIASSON

Lafourche Parish Administrator

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JP ARGUELLO | THE TIMES

FUEL

Prices

FALL Pump prices put squeeze on economy ‘Obviously these low prices are a boon for the family economy, but oil-producing states face a different reality.’

DON REDMAN AAA Spokesman

Richard Sam Sr. pumps gas at the Discount Zone at Hollywood Road and West Tunnel Boulevard. Gas prices in Louisiana have dipped below two dollars per gallon as oil prices have tumbled.

KARL GOMMEL karl@rushing-media.com Gas prices are as low as they have been in a decade, and oil-producing areas are feeling the squeeze.

This year’s Labor Day gas prices were the lowest since 2004, according to AAA spokesman Don Redman. He says the low gas prices are related to the steep drop in crude oil prices on the global market.

The market price for crude has collapsed over the last year. On Sept. 5 of last year, a barrel of crude sold for $93.29, according to the West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark. On Sept. 4 this year, that same index pegged a barrel at $46.05.

Redman says the downward trend in crude is related to a global decrease in demand, as developing economies struggle to keep pace with their previous growth.

“We’re looking at the slowdown of the global economy, particularly China,” he said.

According to Redman, in the first week of September the statewide price of gasoline was down to $2.12 per gallon. He said that was about $1.10 cheaper than this time last year.

While the low price of gas is great for the pocketbook of the person at the pump, areas dependent on the resources’ economy have a different outlook. Places reliant on oil companies for local jobs and tax revenues are facing economic constraints.

“Obviously these low prices are a boon for the family economy, but oil-producing

states face a different reality,” Redman said.

Terrebonne Parish is just one of these areas adversely affected by the oil market’s slowdown. In 2014, Terrebonne boasted the lowest unemployment rate in the state.

While severe unemployment has not struck so far, job growth has been slowing over the last few years, according to Dr. James A. Richardson, of LSU’s economics department.

Richardson co-authors the Louisiana Economic Outlook each year, and he points to recent figures highlighting the slowdown in new jobs in the Houma-Thibodaux Metropolitan Statistical Area.

“In 2012, the [Houma-Thibodaux] economy gained almost 3,000 net new jobs; in 2013, almost 3,800 net new jobs; but in 2014, just about 1,100. The oil and gas industry has certainly been a driver in this slowdown,” Richardson said.

With the price of oil dropping drastically in the past year, revenues for Terrebonne have fallen accordingly. The parish just adjusted its 2015 budget to account for a $1.9 million decline in mineral royalties from its original estimation of $5 million. Terrebonne Parish President Michel Claudet ties the dip to the oil market.

“We used to receive royalties based on $100 barrels of oil, now we have $40 barrels of oil,” he said.

As well as a decrease in royalties directly from the company, Terrebonne has also seen a drop in sales tax revenue. With the price of their product so low, oil

companies have started to cut back on costs, such as cutting back hours and even layoffs. Sales tax revenue in September fell 15 percent from the previous month.

The decrease in revenues and shaky outlook for the oil market gave a credit ratings agency enough reason to put Terrebonne on a credit watch list.

The parish serves as headquarters for several offshore oil and gas companies and faces economic-related risks. The recent decline in oil prices will likely affect local employment, sales tax collections and home prices.

Any related state funding decline could compound the impact, as cities and parishes in Louisiana receive a portion of state severance taxes and royalties. For Terrebonne, these two sources total $5.9 million in the fiscal 2015 budget, or roughly 25 percent of general fund revenues. And, at nearly $41 million, sales taxes represented more than 35 percent of budgeted parish governmental revenues in fiscal 2015.

Property tax millage rates can be increased to counter tax base losses, but any hike in a local sales tax rate must be approved by voters.

Richardson said that oil prices will be in the $50 to $60 range for the next few years. He warns to not expect oil to return to the $80-$100 range anytime soon. He said that aside from a slowdown in demand, countries are getting smarter about how they use what they have.

“The world is showing it has substantial resources and we are all becoming

more efficient users of oil and gas,” Richardson said.

AAA’s Redman expects the price at the pump to go even lower before the end of the year. Experts are forecasting a national average price of $2 per gallon in December, which translates to about $1.90 in Louisiana. However, Redman says that forecasts cannot account for drastic changes in the market.

“When we make these forecasts, it’s based on everything running smoothly. If there’s a significant disruption, there will probably be upward prices,” Redman said.

Richardson concurs, saying that the oil industry tries to prepare for a huge shift in circumstances.

“There will always be price volatility with oil and natural gas. The oil industry understands this and knows how to cope with it,” he said. “Some companies will be better at coping than others.”

Richardson said the Houma-Thibodaux region is certainly driven by the energy sector, and it is very hard to change the basic driver of a local economy. He predicts the current malaise in oil markets to affect the area, but does not predict doom.

“The area will not grow like it has been growing and it may decline depending on the energy markets over the next several years,” Richardson said. “But this area is connected to the Gulf of Mexico activity and that will not dry up. For that reason, it may have a slowdown or perhaps no growth, but it will come back.”

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Terrebonne’s Top Taxpayers Hilcorp Energy leads Terrebonne’s oil-and-gas pack in 2014

STAFF REPORT The following are Terrebonne Parish’s top 25 taxpayers for 2014, as calculated by the parish Assessor’s Office.

The majority of businesses listed provide products or services to the oil-and-gas industry.

Hilcorp Energy Co. Founded in 1989, Hilcorp Energy Co. is one of the largest privately-held independent oil and natural gas exploration and production companies in the United States. Headquartered in Houston, Hilcorp has grown its workforce beyond 1,000 employees, completed more than $2 billion in oil and gas acquisitions and invested more than $2.5 billion in capital development.

2014 VALUES: $38,952,115 TAX AMOUNT: $3,880,695.94

PHI PHI Inc., the Total Helicopter Company, is one of the world’s leading chopper service companies. Its core business consists of offshore operations in energy basins around the globe. PHI helicopters fly 250 miles into the Gulf of Mexico and to locations 200 miles offshore in international waters.

Headquartered in Lafayette, La., the company has operated in the United States and 43 other countries since its inception in 1949.

2014 VALUES: $27,247,655 TAX AMOUNT: $2,586,809.43

SCF Marine Inc. SCF Marine is the operating unit of SEACOR’s Inland River Services. The group owns and operates modern river transportation equipment: covered and open hopper barges, 10,000 and 30,000 barrel tank barges, deck barges, inland river towboats and smaller harbor boats; and provides ancillary services along the U.S. Inland River Waterways, including the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, and the Parana-Paraguay and the Magdalene River Systems in South America.

2014 VALUES: $14,191,655 TAX AMOUNT: $1,412,421.65

Shell Pipeline Co. Shell Pipeline Co. has

helped meet America’s energy needs for more than 90 years. The company owns and operates seven tank farms across the U.S., and transports more than 1.5 billion barrels of crude and refined products annually through more than 3,800 pipeline miles across the Gulf of Mexico and five states. This includes 40 different kinds of crude oil and more than 20 different grades of gasoline, as well as diesel fuel, jet fuel, chemicals, ethylene and natural gas liquids.

2014 VALUES: $13,058,240 TAX AMOUNT: $1,282,304.77

Weatherford U.S. Weatherford is one of the largest global oilfield service and equipment companies serving the exploration and production industry.

Headquartered in Switzerland, Weatherford operates in more than 100 countries and employs more than 50,000 people. The company’s unprecedented growth is attributed to the consolidation of 250-plus strategic acquisitions over the past 14 years.

In addition to operations in the U.S., Weatherford has regional hubs in major energy-producing areas such as Asia, Canada, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Russia.

2014 VALUES: $11,214,805 TAX AMOUNT: $1,037,455.34

Apache Corp.

Apache was formed in 1954 with $250,000 of investor capital with the simple concept of becoming a significant and profitable oil company.

Today, Apache Corporation is one of the world’s top independent oil and gas exploration and production companies. Apache conducts land and offshore operations in the United States and five foreign nations.

Last year, Apache partnered with service companies Halliburton and Schlumberger to use natural gas to power hydraulic fracturing. Apache was the first operator to use a frack spread solely with natural gas. Apache shifted its focus in 2013 to onshore North American oil and liquids-rich plays in the Permian and Anadarko basins. It is the most active operator in the Permian Basin, and

the second-most active in the Anadarko Basin.

2014 VALUES: $10,463,265 TAX AMOUNT: $1,076,360,78

Amelia. The business takes pride on being open with its customers. Every year, SLECA gives members a chance to meet the business’s directors and keep in tabs with the happenings going on throughout the company.

2014 VALUES: $7,690,410 TAX AMOUNT: $732,942.37

Entergy Louisiana Entergy Louisiana LLC and Entergy Gulf States Louisiana LLC serves more than 1 million electric customers in 58 of Louisiana’s parishes.

With residential and business accounts, Entergy has prided itself as being active in economic and community development. Establishing itself as a Top 10 business in Louisiana, Entergy has partnered with other companies to enhance overall service opportunities.

2014 VALUES: $9,478,600 TAX AMOUNT: $891,305.84

Halliburton Energy Services Inc. Founded in 1919, Halliburton Energy Services Inc. is one of the globe’s largest providers of products and services to the energy industry. Halliburton has 70,000 employees and comprises 13 product service lines in two divisions: drilling and evaluation, and completion and production. Both product service lines primarily oversee strategy, capital allocation and technology, process and people development.

2014 VALUES: $8,602,095 TAX AMOUNT: $801,356.97

Bell South Communications

Hercules Drilling Co. Hercules Drilling Co. is a provider of offshore shallow-water contract drilling and liftboat services. Its fleet – 36 jackup drilling rigs and 24 liftboats – operates in water depths ranging from nine to 400 feet and can drill to maximum water depths ranging from 15,000 to 35,000 feet.

Hercules is capable of providing services such as oil and gas exploration and development drilling, well service, platform inspection, maintenance and decommissioning operations in shallow market waters.

2014 VALUES: $8,058,295 TAX AMOUNT: $764,764.11

Founded in 1983 as SBT&T Co., Bell South Communications continues to be a telecommunications leader throughout the Southeast and beyond. The company is headquartered in Charlotte, but services Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky. Bell South Telecommunications is a subsidiary of Bell South Corporation, which was purchased by conglomerate AT&T in 2006. The company continues to be the leading telecommunications provider in Terrebonne, providing phone lines and internet capabilities to thousands of residents in the area.

2014 VALUES: $7,298,760 TAX AMOUNT: $678,815.89

Zydeco Pipeline Co.

Transcontinental Gas Pipeline One of the largest interstate gas pipeline systems in North America, the Transco pipeline delivers natural gas to its customers through its 9,700-mile mainline and branch transmission pipelines, extending from South Texas to New York City. Its compressor stations help move gas from the Gulf Coast to 12 southeast and Atlantic seaboard states, including major metropolitan areas in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Transco also operates 45 compressor stations, four underground storage fields and a liquefied natural gas storage facility.

2014 VALUES: $8,295,890 TAX AMOUNT: $805,771.69

of subsidiary companies that were each given money

by Riverstone recently for future drilling prospect inventory in the Gulf Coast.

The energy company has a 27-year history in exploration and development in South Louisiana.

2014 VALUES: $6,903,470 TAX AMOUNT: $693,171.35

South Louisiana Electric Co-op With 17,000 member accounts throughout a five-parish radius (which includes both Terrebonne and Lafourche paishes), South Louisiana Electric Cooperative Association (SLECA) continues to grow.

With rates that the company boasts are “the lowest in Louisiana,” SLECA is governed by a nine-member board of directors who are elected to three-year terms.

The local electric company has offices in Houma and

Zydeco Pipeline Company is jointly owned by Shell Pipeline Company and Shell Midstream Partners. The business is best known for owning the “Ho-Ho” crude oil pipeline that runs from Houston to Houma – a line that markets hubs in St. James and Clovelly, Louisiana. The company provides refineries and terminals in the Southeast with pipeline access to additional sources of growing light crude oil production arriving in the Houston market from the Eagle Ford shale, Bakken shale and also Permian Basin.

2014 VALUES: $7,367,480 TAX AMOUNT: $664,804.97

Wal-Mart Louisiana Inc. With two superstores and a Sam’s Club in Terrebonne Parish, Wal-Mart Louisiana Inc. is a local powerhouse.

Owned by parent company Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., the local stores are part of a chain that includes more than 11,000 locations in 28 countries around the world.

According to Fortune Global 500’s 2014 list, Wal-Mart is No. 1 in the world in company revenue. The business has accumulated almost $500 billion in profits since its July 2, 1962 start date.

2014 VALUES: $6,238,820 TAX AMOUNT: $692,438.35

Castex Energy A private oil and gas company that is focused on exploration and development in South Louisiana and the Gulf of Mexico Shelf, Castex Energy continues to flourish, even in the tough economic climate. Castex Energy manages Castex 2005 and Castex 2014, a pair

Manson Gulf LLC Manson Gulf LLC has been around for 110 years and counting. Established in 1905, Manson started off SEE TERREBONNE TAX, PAGE C12

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TERREBONNE TAX: Biggest Payers FROM PAGE C10 as a small, family-owned Puget Sound marine pile driving business. Since that time, Manson has grown immensely and is now a leader in heavy civil marine construction and dredging.

The company thrives as an employee-owned company that now has a second, third and sometimes even fourth-generation workforce. Manson owns and operates 60 specialized vessels and more than 50 barges.

2014 VALUES: $5,768,990 TAX AMOUNT: $610,993.75

Ship Shoal Pipeline Co. 2014 VALUES: $5,595,790 TAX AMOUNT: $540,242.44

Oil States Skagit Smatco Oil State Skagit Smatco is a major player in local oil, employing more than 1,700 workers throughout 11 countries worldwide. The company started in 1942 as a supplier of rubber components. It quickly evolved to its position today as a business that offers flexible bearing, advanced connectors and services for install-

National Oilwell Varco

ing and removing offshore platforms. Oil States Skagit Smatco is the world leader in providing flexible connections and bearings for drilling vessels, tension let platforms and other advanced sea structures in the Gulf of Mexico and worldwide.

Helis Oil & Gas

2014 VALUES: $5,549,185 TAX AMOUNT: $466,519.98

Nabors Offshore Drilling Nabors is a leader in the platform drilling rig market, thanks to the company’s innovative MASE and MODS rigs, which are designed to withstand the winds and waves that go along with deepwater drilling. Nabors operates 48 offshore rigs in the United States, which are spread out around the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska. The company also does work worldwide. Nabors provides innovative drilling technology and equipment to the oil field, as well as directional drilling and comprehensive oilfield services throughout some of the largest oil and gas markets in the world.

2014 VALUES: $5,508,830 TAX AMOUNT: $515,174.32

During the oil boom in the early 20th Century, Greek immigrant William Helis Sr., decided to plant his roots in New Orleans. He did so by starting Helis Oil & Gas – a company he created after a few years following oil plays around the country. Today, Helis is a power. The company has owned and operated wells throughout the Southeast and beyond, including also in Oklahoma, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana and North Dakota. Helis is also known for work it’s done in sensitive environments, including wildlife preserves.

2014 VALUES: $5,401,620 TAX AMOUNT: $30,177.35

National Oilwell Varco (NOV) is always busy in its role as a provider of equipment and components that are used in oil and gas drilling and production operations around the country.

The company has roots that trace all the way back to the 1800s. Today, it’s a business that has more than $3 billion in operating income, is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange and which employs more than 60,000 people around the world.

2014 VALUES: $5,401,620 TAX AMOUNT: $30,177.35

Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co.

Gulf Island For 30 years, Gulf Island Fabrication, Inc., has built up its business to become a worldwide leader in the fabrication of specialized structures and vessels that are commonly used in the oil, gas and marine industries. Gulf Island has six subsidiaries, one of which is located in Houma. The company is publicly traded via NASDAQ, and it boasts that it provides clients with a full range of construction and maintenance within the field.

2014 VALUES: $5,401,620 TAX AMOUNT: $30,177.35

Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. is owned by Kinder Morgan and is a pipeline system that moves natural gas around the country. The pipeline stretches for almost 12,000 miles and it pumps natural gas from Louisiana, the Gulf of Mexico and south Texas to areas in the Northeast, including New York City, Boston and other major population centers in that area of the country. The pipeline was commissioned in 1943, a construction project by the Tennessee Gas Transmission Company.

That company is why the pipeline has its name.

2014 VALUES: $5,401,620 TAX AMOUNT: $30,177.35

South Louisiana Bank Founded in 1980 in Houma, South Louisiana Bank is now a banking leader in the Houma-Thibodaux area.

The local bank has grown to feature six full service locations – five in Terrebonne and one in Lafourche. The bank also has gotten to the

western part of the state in recent years, opening a Loan Production Office in Lafayette. The local bank specializes in making loans for both citizens and businesses.

According to Entrepreneur Magazine, South Louisiana Bank is one of the best banks in the country for small business.

2014 VALUES: $5,401,620 TAX AMOUNT: $30,177.35

Gulf South Pipeline Co. Gulf South Pipeline Company is like an interstate for natural gas transportation.

The company gathers gas from basins between Texas and Alabama and ships it to on-system markets within its footprint and also to off-system markets in need throughout the country. The Gulf South system consists of more than 7,400 miles of pipeline, which have an average daily throughput of more than 2.9 billion cubic feet per day.

2014 VALUES: $5,401,620 TAX AMOUNT: $30,177.35

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Lafourche’s Top Taxpayers STAFF REPORT Listed are Lafourche Parish’s top 10 taxpayers in 2014 as compiled by the parish’s Assessor’s Office.

1. Hornbeck Offshore Services Hornbeck Offshore Services provides marine transportation services to exploration and production, oilfield service, offshore construction and military customers. Its focus is on meeting the needs of the deepwater and ultra-deepwater energy industry in domestic and, more recently, foreign locations.

The company has one of the youngest fleets of new generation, deepwater-capable OSVs in the industry that are compliant with new CO2 emission standards. So far, they’ve placed 17 of them in service and are expected to build 7 more in the second half of 2015.

ASSESSED VALUE: $39,238,680 TAXED AMOUNT: $5,123,002

2. Chevron Texaco Exploration In 2001, Chevron and Texaco merged, positioning itself to be one of the world’s leading integrated energy companies. Chevron is involved in virtually every

Hornbeck Offshore contributes more than $5M to Lafourche’s coffers

facet of the energy industry: exploration for, producing and transporting crude oil and natural gas; refining, marketing and distributing transportation fuels and lubricants; manufacturing and selling petrochemical products; generating power and producing geothermal energy; providing renewable energy and energy efficiency solutions; and developing future energy resources.

Last year, Chevron’s average net production was nearly 2.571 million oil-equivalent barrels per day. It closed the year with a global refining capacity of 1.9 million barrels of oil per day.

ASSESSED VALUE: $37,415,150 TAXED AMOUNT: $4,915,711

3. Nautical Solutions LLC As a subsidiary of Edison Chouest of Galliano, Nautical Solutions LLC is part of a larger family that includes the operation of more than 200 vessels, ranging from 87 to more than 360 feet in length, serving an expanding global customer base as offshore service providers.

ASSESSED VALUE: $27,087,000 TAXED AMOUNT: $3,570,956

4. LOOP LLC The Louisiana Offshore

Oil Port is the only U.S. port capable of offloading deep draft tankers carrying foreign and domestic crude oil.

The Houston-to-Houma (HoHo) Pipeline moves domestic crude produced in the U.S. and the Gulf of Mexico.

The port consists of three single-point mooring buoys used for the offloading and a marine terminal consisting of a two-level pumping platform and three-level control platforms. The Clovelly facility provides interim storage for crude oil before it is delivered via connecting pipelines to refineries on the Gulf Coast and in the Midwest.

ASSESSED VALUE: $16,958,140 TAXED AMOUNT: $2,222,311

when he was asked to provide small craft support to an oil rig to clear water lilies from an access canal.

ASSESSED VALUE: $15,975,770 TAXED AMOUNT: $2,107,550

5. Otto Candies LLC

6. Legacy Leader LLC

Otto Candies LLC’s fleet goes beyond the DP offshore supply vessel and ocean tug to include the new IMR dive support vessel. The Des Allemands-based company is an industry leader. Its fleet includes DP offshore vessels and ocean tugs, as well as the new IMR dive support vessel. Candies performs pipeline and sub-sea inspections, maintenance, repairs and installation with ROVIMR equipped vessels certified for saturation diving.

Capt. Otto B. Candies entered the market in 1942,

As a member of the Edison Chouest family of offshore service and supply vessels, Legacy Leader LLC is part of a larger family that includes the operation of more than 200 vessels and are recognized today as the most diverse and dynamic marine transportation solution providers in the world.

ASSESSED VALUE: $15,394,860 TAXED AMOUNT: $2,031,043

Shell Oil Company and BP, Mars Oil Pipeline Company is situated in the Gulf of Mexico about 130 miles southeast of New Orleans.

Initially, it was designed to recover about 500 million barrels of oil equivalent.

Oil is transported 116 miles in the $135 million Mars system. The project parallels the LOOP Pipeline to Clovelly’s storage facilities and eventually feeds any of five major pipelines serving the nation’s refineries.

ASSESSED VALUE: $13,583,920 TAXED AMOUNT: $1,781,259

8. Discovery Producer Services

7. Mars Oil Pipeline Company A joint venture between

Discovery Producer Services integrates “wellhead to market” services to natural gas producers operating in the Gulf’s shallow- and deep waters. Discovery consists of a 105-mile mainline, 168 miles of lateral gathering pipelines, a natural gas processing plant and an NGL fractionation facility.

The Tulsa, Oklahoma-based company has interconnections with five natural gas pipeline systems. The company’s mainline was placed into service in 1998 and has a design capacity of 600 million cubic feet per day.

ASSESSED VALUE: $13,735,520 TAXED AMOUNT: $1,603,759

9. Nautical Ventures LLC As a member of the Edison Chouest family of offshore service and supply vessels, Nautical Ventures LLC is part of a larger family that includes the operation of more than 200 vessels. The ability to design, build, own and operate diverse, high-capacity and technologically superior vessels has made Edison Chouest an unrivaled leader in the maritime industry.

ASSESSED VALUE: $12,019,800 TAXED AMOUNT: $1,585,772

10. Entergy Louisiana LLC Entergy Louisiana LLC and Entergy Gulf States Louisiana LLC serve more than 1 million electric customers in 58 of Louisiana’s parishes.

With residential and business accounts, Entergy has prided itself as being active in economic and community development. Establishing itself as a Top 10 business in Louisiana, Entergy has partnered with other companies to enhance overall service opportunities.

ASSESSED VALUE: $12,756,230 TAXED AMOUNT: $1,515,127

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2016

LOUISIANA OIL AND GAS PIPELINES THERE IS A TOTAL OF APPROXIMATELY 125,000 MILES OF PIPELINES MOVING THROUGH LOUISIANA. THERE IS AN ESTIMATED 87,764 MILES OF PIPELINES ONSHORE LOUISIANA AND 37,000 MILES OF PIPELINES IN LOUISIANA OCS WATERS.

THERE ARE THOUSANDS OF MILES OF FLOW LINES AND GATHERING LINES MOVING OIL AND GAS FROM THE WELLHEAD TO SEPARATING FACILITIES WHILE OTHER PIPELINES TRANSPORT CHEMICAL PRODUCTS WITH NO PETROLEUM BASE.

THE TOTAL ASSESSED VALUE OF THE PIPELINES IN LOUISIANA IS OVER $1.9 BILLION, ACCORDING TO THE LOUISIANA TAX COMMISSION’S 2011 ANNUAL REPORT.

THE PIPELINE INDUSTRY EMPLOYS AN AVERAGE OF 2,611 PERSONS IN LOUISIANA WITH AN ANNUAL PAYROLL OF MORE THAN $203 MILLION.

LOUISIANA IS HOME TO THE WORLD’S ONLY OFFSHORE SUPERPORT, LOUISIANA OFFSHORE OIL PORT (LOOP), WHICH ALLOWS SUPERTANKERS TO UNLOAD CRUDE OIL AWAY FROM SHORE SO THAT IT CAN BE TRANSPORTED VIA PIPELINE TO ONSHORE TERMINALS. LOOP IS THE ONLY PORT IN THE U.S. CAPABLE OF ACCOMMODATING DEEPDRAFT TANKERS.

THE HENRY HUB IN LOUISIANA IS A HUB OF NATURAL GAS PIPELINES IN ERATH, LOUISIANA THAT SERVES AS THE PRICING POINT FOR NATURAL GAS FUTURES TRADING IN THE UNITED STATES.

CHENIERE’S SABINE PASS LNG (LIQUEFIED NATURAL GAS) IMPORT TERMINAL IS THE LARGEST OF NINE EXISTING LNG IMPORT SITES IN THE UNITED STATES.

SOURCE: LOUISIANA MID-CONTINENT OIL & GAS ASSOCIATION

C21 Local port

C27 C29 Slack in drilling Politicians

shows growth

a global issue

chime in

Even in economic slump, Port Fourchon moving forward

Feds proclaim that Gulf of Mexico has taken the biggest hit

State Senate candidates weigh in on oil and gas

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Louisiana Offshore Oil Port largest entry point for country’s waterborne crude STAFF REPORT For more than three decades, a large portion of the lifeblood of America has passed right through our back yard.

Believe it or not, more than 11 billion barrels of crude oil has passed through the Bayou Region.

That is, after it makes a pit stop in southern Lafourche Parish at the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, better known as LOOP. It is the largest point of entry for waterborne crude oil coming into the U.S. LOOP’s Clovelly Hub is capable of storing more than 70 million barrels of crude oil, and it is the largest privately-owned and operated crude oil repository in the nation.

Crude oil enters the hub via four pipelines.

One comes from the LOOP Marine Terminal, a structure located 23 miles from shore which allows Ultra Large Crude Tankers and Very Large Crude Tankers to send

crude oil to LOOP without even entering the continental shelf. That makes LOOP the only port in America capable of accepting oil from tankers of those sizes.

“Supertankers cannot navigate the continental shelf that borders the U.S. coastline,” LOOP Vice President of Business Development Terry Coleman explained.

“The continental shelf makes it impossible to bring deep draft vessels into a land port.

Ultra Large Crude Carriers and Very Large Crude Carriers draw upwards of 80 to 90 feet of water.”

Two of the other three pipelines come from deepwater Gulf of Mexico, and one comes from Texas, according Coleman.

“The crude oil is stored in underground caverns and above ground storage tanks at LOOP’s Clovelly Hub,” Coleman said.

There are eight of those underground SEE LOOP, PAGE C20

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LOOP: Curole touts positives impacts of LOOP FROM PAGE C18 caverns, leached out of a naturally occurring salt dome. The six above-ground structures can hold 600,000 barrels each.

“It is then delivered to refiners via additional pipelines,” Coleman said.

The outgoing pipelines connect LOOP directly to 10 states and to more than 50 percent of the nation’s refining capacity.

At full refining capacity, LOOP ships more than 1.1 million barrels of oil per day to refineries in southeast Louisiana such as Chalmette Refining, Motiva Norco, Phillips 66 Alliance, Shell St. Rose. Valero Meraux and Valero St. Charles. Complex refineries such as ExxonMobil Baton Rouge, Marathon Garyville and Mativa Covenant also have access to LOOP’s crude oil.

Additionally, when customers request oil, LOOP can deliver crude oil supplies quickly and accurately via its various pipelines that can reach as far north as Minnesota.

“At LOOP, it really is all about the customer,” Coleman said. “The refiner calls when they need it, and it is piped to them on demand.”

With the shale boom in the United States, LOOP is also positioning itself to become the biggest outgoing hub for oil exports. In October 2013, Shell Oil Company completed the reversal of the Houma-to-Houston pipeline, making it flow eastward from Houston to Houma.

Apart from the seemingly endless amount of oil LOOP handles on a daily basis, it may be its track record of safe receivables and deliveries that it is most proud of.

Since beginning operations in 1981, LOOP boasts no major oil spills.

“I believe LOOP’s aggres-

sive maintenance program and the conscientious commitment of the staff are the key to operational safety and reliability,” Coleman explained. “LOOP maintains an emphasis on prevention in its operations – prevention of safety and environmental incidents. Because of our commitment to protecting the environment, the communities in which we operate, and both contract personnel and employees, we strive in all aspects of our business to spill no oil and insure that no one is injured. This commitment extends beyond our operations to programs that help educate the public and other operators on how to avoid or prevent damage to pipeline systems.”

In the case of a spill, LOOP has an extensive emergency response plan in place and is prepared to respond with an on-site team along with experienced consultants and contractors.

But there has never been a large spill. In a statement LOOP President Thomas L. Shaw made before the Quadrennial Energy Review in 2014, LOOP has safely transported “ 99.999999% of the crude oil it has moved since inception.”

Shaw said that an environmental impact study done before construction on the facility began predicted LOOP would spill five barrels of crude oil for every million they received. At that rate, they would spill five barrels of oil per day into the broken marsh of South Lafourche Parish, but by the middle of 2014, LOOP had only spilled three-quarters of a barrel.

Why? Because they’re Louisianans too.

“Our entire support staff is located here in Louisiana.

We are proud of each member of our staff and their

involvement in the community,” Coleman said. “ … All of our people actually live and work in the community.

From our outreach pieces, we’re a huge supporter of the United Way both in Lafourche and Terrebonne as well as up in St. Tammany in the greater New Orleans area.”

Coleman added LOOP never has to go very far looking for good ideas and technical expertise.

“We think we have the best people in our industry right here in our state,” he said.

South Lafourche Levee District General Manager Windell Curole sees the positive impacts of LOOP every day.

“It’s a large tax base for Lafourche Parish,” Curole said. “Its pipeline [and] its sales are taxed.”

In fact, LOOP was the fourth largest taxpayer in Lafourche Parish in 2014, bringing in $2.2 million, according to documents from the Lafourche Parish Assessor’s Office.

The responsibility to the community that LOOP has is one the company doesn’t take lightly.

“Being involved in a vital infrastructure every day makes it exciting to come to work every day,“ Coleman said. “We know what we do is important, and we take that responsibility very seriously.”

‘At LOOP, it really is all about the customer. The refiner calls when they need it, and it is piped to them on demand.’

TERRY COLEMAN

Vice President of Business Development

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Fourchon showing growth

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Despite oilfield downturn, port is readying for next stage More than 1.5 million barrels of crude oil move daily via Fourchon’s pipelines

BY CASEY GISCLAIR casey@rushing-media.com It’s no secret that the local oil and gas industry has been slower than normal for nearly a year now – one of the longest dips we’ve had here since the BP oil spill.

But folks over at Port Fourchon don’t think it’s time to panic. In fact, they’re already preparing themselves for when things pick up and work gets back to normal.

Even amidst the downturn, work remains steady at Fourchon – the small goldmine of a port that furnishes almost 20 percent of the nation’s oil supply each year.

Port Director Chett Chiasson said the current dip has slightly affected the port’s future plans, but not at a rate that is cause for widespread concern just yet. He added that one thing he’s learned about the oil industry is that once it goes down, it always finds its way back up again.

That experience, combined with projections that experts have made to support a future upswing, has Chiasson optimistic that brighter days are ahead in the future.

“We’re watching the market with a close, concerned eye, obviously,” he said. “I think at this point in time, it’s safe to say that everyone is doing the same. But we’re anticipating a pickup to come in the future. We’re crossing our fingers, but we think it’s going to happen

COURTESY | PORT FOURCHON

Despite the recent oilfield slump, work remains busy at Port Fourchon. Officials dropped the port’s rent this past spring, a decision that oilfield leaders said was vital to keeping things moving smoothly. early- to mid-2016. It could be shorter just like it could be longer. I guess we’ll see.

But the one thing we pretty much believe and know is that the price of oil always makes its way back up. It will again, and when it does, we’ll be ready.”

STAYING IN FRONT OF THE LULL HAS HELPED FOURCHON FLOAT Chiasson said the port has been out in front of the downturn since it first started earlier in the year.

The Greater Lafourche Port Commission voted this

past spring to lower rent for Fourchon’s tenants by 20 percent – a price change that went into effect on April 1, 2015 and will last for one year.

Chiasson said the decision to lower rent will cost the port $3 million in gross revenue, based on revenue numbers from years past. But the port director said the decision to go forward with the discounted rent prices was a good one, because it ensures that business can continue to operate. By lowering the rent, Chiasson said it will keep things chugging along at Fourchon if and when the

price of oil goes back up and business returns to normal.

“Our hope with lowering the rent was that we’d keep our tenant base the same – both today and for the long term,” Chiasson said.

“That’s why we did what we did. Our tenants were getting pressure from the oil and gas companies to lower their costs, which, of course, trickled down to us. So far, doing that has been successful and has kept things moving along about as well as can be expected.”

Don Briggs, the president of the Louisiana Oil and Gas Association, agrees. He

said lowering the rent was a no-brainer for Fourchon if it wanted to keep its tenant base numbers in tact.

“The industry is slower than folks had become accustomed to and companies were struggling to pay,” Briggs said. “That was the best thing for them to do – lowering that rent.”

GROWING EVEN IN THE MIDST OF THE STORM While waiting for things to get back to normal, Fourchon has taken steps to grow, as well.

“It’s been a little slower

than we thought it’d be, but we have done some expansion,” Chiasson said. “Even with as slow as it’s been, we’re taking steps to grow and to move forward.”

Chiasson said work is ongoing to continue to build bulkheads in Slip C of Port Fourchon. The port director said plans are also moving forward on Slip D, which will be the port’s newest addition, and expansion in the future.

Slip D’s construction is part of the port’s continued push for northern expansion. It will add 300 acres of developed property to the port, which will create more than 10,000 linear feet of waterfront to Fourchon, once completed. Chiasson said the project broke ground in July and will take six to eight years to fully be completed, which is exactly why work is going on right now.

Times may be tough today, but they likely won’t be in the future when the project would be complete, so the Port has to continue to plan and be ready for expanded growth.

The project is estimated to cost $100 million total.

The good news, according to Chiasson, is that when expansion work is done during a slow economic time, it’s often easy to get work done at a more competitive price than normal, as contractors troll the market for jobs.

“The Port Commission has

SEE FOURCHON, PAGE C23

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COURTESY | PORT OF TERREBONNE

The Port of Terrebonne’s jurisdiction includes all waterways within Terrebonne Parish, and its place on the federal waiting list for maintenance dredging of the Houma Navigation Canal is determined by how well the weight of all their cargo is documented.

Houma Navigation Canal

Port exec: Industry may take matters into its own hands

BY JOHN DESANTIS john@rushing-media.com The continued need for a channel cleared to its maximum depth from the Gulf of Mexico to Houma is essential, local industry voices have long maintained.

So now, as they continue waiting for greater attention from federal officials, local industry leaders are exploring ways to do the job – or a portion of it – themselves.

The expressed need for maintenance dredging is one of several marine industry wish-list items but likely the more attainable for now, one way or the other. The real prize that is sought would be the dredging of the Houma Navigation Canal to a depth of at least 15 feet rather than

the current 12 feet.

But that literally requires an act of Congress.

Gulf Island Fabrication has already left Terrebonne Parish; government and industry leaders are concerned that more may follow.

That leaves a parish for which oilfield service and related shipbuilding are essential economic drivers, officials say, essentially without a deep-water port.

“We have already seen how the lack of sufficient channel depth caused Gulf Island to acquire another facility in Texas that had sufficient depth to construct and transport large oilfield structures,” said Terrebonne Parish President Michel Claudet, when asked about the importance of dredging. “Chan-

nel depth has already caused us to lose jobs and economic activity in this area.”

Port of Terrebonne executive director David Rabalais has been preaching the gospel of channel dredging non-stop. While the Port of Terrebonne’s recently adjusted its national rank in terms of how busy individual ports are – essential for being placed on the Army Corps of Engineers dredging list in a more timely manner – the priority for its aquatic lifeline, the HNC, is still low compared to other locations.

“If a 2-foot diameter tree fell on every road in Terrebonne Parish, the businesses in this parish would not survive because no one would be able to drive across a 2-foot diameter tree,” Rabalais said, in a message to

his board members that he shared with The Times. “That’s exactly what is happening to our fabrication and repair businesses in this parish.”

The difference, Rabalais drily notes, is that while crews would be scrambling to clear the trees, the same is not true for the HNC, despite the potentially disastrous consequences.

Talks are ongoing between the port and federal officials, specifically with the corps. Any remedy local industry and government come up with before the corps finally approves a meaningful dredging project will need permits from that entity.

SEE TERREBONNE, PAGE C24

‘If a 2-foot diameter tree fell on every road in Terrebonne Parish, the business in this parish would not survive because no one would be able to drive across a 2-foot diameter tree.’

DAVID RABALAIS

Port of Terrebonne Executive Director

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FOURCHON: Port critical to U.S. energy FROM PAGE C21 been pretty aggressive in expanding during slow times knowing that the next wave is going to come,” Chiasson said. “We do that so that we can put ourselves in a position to meet the demand when that next wave comes.

It’s cyclical. It was like that in the ’80s. It was like that in the ’90s. It was like that after the oil spill. We’re thinking that history is right and is going to repeat. We’re cautiously aggressive. We’re picking the right places to invest the public’s money to get the most bang for their buck.”

AN UNAPPRECIATED NATIONAL TREASURE Even with all of the improvements in the works, Chiasson and others still believe that Fourchon is an underappreciated treasure to the average American not from the Houma-Thibodaux

area.

According to statistics provided by the port, more than 1.5 million barrels of crude oil per day are moved via pipelines through the port. Because of that, nine of the Top 10 Lafourche Parish taxpayers operate from and/ or utilize Port Fourchon for some of its operations.

The port services more than 90 percent of the Gulf of Mexico’s deepwater oil production – a business that contributes billions of dollars into the nation’s economy each year – all from a place that looks like a grain of sand on a map.

“People not from here have no clue of the supply chain that their energy has to go through to get to them,” Chiasson said. “They don’t understand that it all starts here.”

“Your area is one of the most important areas in the entire United States of America,” Economist Loren Scott added. “Things

that happen at Fourchon dominate your economy, of course. But they also dictate the quality of life and the ways that people live all across the United States of America.”

So when things aren’t going so well, it is a cause for concern.

But on Chiasson’s watch, the port has endured hurricanes, slow economic periods, an oil spill and a subsequent moratorium.

The industry recovered from all of the above and grew back bigger than ever.

He has confidence it will happen again, and the nation’s hidden gem will continue to grow more and more to service the industry’s needs.

“It’ll bounce back,” Chiasson said. “It always does.

It’s been down before. It’ll be down again. It comes back.

We’ve dealt with this too many times before. We know not to overreact.”

COURTESY | PORT FOURCHON

An aerial photograph shows Port Fourchon. More than 90 percent of oil produced in the Gulf of Mexico flow through the port via pipelines.

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COURTESY | PORT OF TERREBONNE

A jacket for an oil and gas operation makes its way in Port of Terrebonne waters, requiring a clear channel to proceed without problems. Officials say that’s why dredging for the Houma Navigation Canal is essential.

TERREBONNE: Ready to maintain channel FROM PAGE C22 “We are talking about building an apparatus of some sort, and we need to have the corps in agreement about the best way to do it,” Rabalais told The Times.

One of the solutions, presuming a local marine company will assist, would be a device that could be pulled with a barge that will remove debris on the bottom and push it to the sides, much like what is used for clearing areas for pipeline.

But Rabalais said it’s still too early to discuss specifics.

“The idea is to clear a path wide enough and deep enough for a vessel to safely navigate,” he said.

Some dredging does get done, in the Houma Nav and other important waterways.

But it is not nearly enough, Rabalais maintains.

“Congress does not allocate enough funds to maintain the authorized channel depths in the New Orleans District,” he said. “It’s that simple. Congress does not recognize that it’s an investment that the returns more than outweigh. All we need in typical years is $3.5 million. The New Orleans District’s allocation varies from year to year but ranges from $75 to $100 million.”

Rabalais and other offi-

cials stress that the need for maintenance dredging, or the currently impossible dream of channel deepening, is not a lagniappe that will benefit some businesses to do better than they currently are.

Rather, the way they explain it, the matter involves survival of the industry.

“Now more than ever, our local fabrication and repair industry needs our help. With oil at $40 to $50 a barrel, the shelf work is dead,” Rabalais said. “The majority of boats that need repair today are the deep draft vessels.”

All working vessels are required to have a top-side inspection every year, and a bottom survey every two years. And that poses a problem with a shallow channel, he said.

“The majority of boats requiring inspections today are deep draft vessels because they are the only vessels working,” Rabalais said.

A collateral problem with an obstructed channel, Rabalais said, is that it threatens full realization of the benefits from various road improvements.

“In an effort to utilize the billions of dollars of local, state and federal tax-funded infrastructure implemented

to assist local industry operate businesses dependent on the HNC to create economic development, the Terrebonne Port Commission needs to apply for a maintenance permit,” he said. The maintenance done by the Port itself would maintain the depth from Mile Marker zero to Mile Marker 12.

“Although dredging is a very expensive option for industry to bear, this opportunity will be the only option industry will have due to the lack of federal funds,” the director said. “I am hoping we can get some assistance from the state.

This is a longer term project for consideration.”

Rabalais continues working toward a better way of measuring the cargo that travels through every waterway in Terrebonne Parish, which is its statutory jurisdiction.

“The port has increased Terrebonne’s cargo tonnage ranking within the last two years from 150 out of 150 to 86th in the country,” Rabalais said. “But even with this rank the USACE still does not receive the necessary funds from Congress to allocate $3.5 million a year to the HNC. The HNC is the main highway for vessel traffic to the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and the rest of the world. “

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FRACK

or not to

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Opinions on value of fracking remain split KARL GOMMEL karl@rushing-media.com Across the country, fracking has become a contentious issue that pits those connected to the oil industry against envrionmentalists. But what does the practice mean for Louisiana?

In Louisiana, the method has been applied for decades in an effort to increase oil and gas production in the state. However, citizens in other parts of the state have fought back against companies’ plans to start exploring in their parishes.

Fracking, otherwise known as hydraulic fracturing, is a method used

by oil and gas companies to improve well production. The process works by sending high-pressure fluids into the ground to crack rock formations deep beneath the earth’s surface.

These cracks then make it easier for oil and natural gas to flow to the well.

While this method allows the United States to increase its energy independence, some see fracking as a threat to the environment. The method demands a large amount of water, so there are concerns of depleting a local water supply. There are also worries that fault lines will be affected during the process and increase the risk of earthquakes.

One such place where residents have worked to stop fracking is St. Tammany Parish. On Aug. 10, a state judge vacated a drilling permit the state had previously given to Helis Oil Co. to start work near Mandeville. The Department of Natural Resources’ Office of Conservation is now required to do further analysis on the proposed site and the project before issuing a ruling on the permit.

According to Don Briggs, president of the Louisiana Oil & Gas Association, the concern of fracking depleting the water supply here is SEE FRACKING, PAGE C26

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FRACKING: FROM PAGE C25

overblown.

“It takes a lot of water. Louisiana has an abundance of water.

Companies find different sources for the water. Pond water, stream water, river water, they get water from a lot of different areas,” he said.

However, Briggs does admit that these fears are based out of previous incidents where companies depleted water supplies.

“There were some cases in north Louisiana when we were fracking a lot of wells, they had some water issues up there. Then the companies started getting their water from different sources rather than using well water,” he said.

According to Briggs, there is fracking in Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes, but the jobs are not as disruptive as in north Louisiana, where the Haynesville shale play is. While fracking in the Bayou Region is strictly vertical, and only goes to about 150 feet, the attractive Haynesville play has companies drilling horizontally as well.

“The fracking in north Louisiana, those wells are considerably, they drill them down and them drill them laterally. Those horizontal fracks will go out 3,000-4,000 feet, so it’s considerably different,” Briggs said.

While fracking is not a major issue in the local area, Briggs says that the recent nuclear agreement between the U.S., other nations and Iran will affect not only frackers but all parts of the oil and gas industry.

“The deal with Iran is going to have an impact on oil prices.

They’re going to flood the market, and put a lot more oil into the market when that deal’s done.

That will not help Terrebonne, Lafourche or anybody in the state of Louisiana who is in the oil business, I can tell you that,” he said.

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COURTESY | ROYAL DUTCH SHELL

Royal Dutch Shell project off the coast of Nigeria continues, although federal energy officials say that region – like the U.S. – is also experiencing a downturn, just not as quickly as the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

Slack in drilling a global issue But feds say Gulf production has taken biggest dive

BY JOHN DESANTIS john@rushing-media.com A drop in the number of active offshore platforms and rigs due to falling petroleum prices – already felt close to home – is part of a global phenomenon, federal energy officials say.

The fall has been steepest, says a new report from the Energy Information Administration, in the Gulf of Mexico. Nonetheless, big oil companies are still expressing optimism about their deepwater projects.

“In response to the decline in crude oil prices since mid2014, the number of active offshore rigs has declined worldwide, dropping close to 20 percent – 304 offshore rigs were operating in August

2015, down from 377 in August 2014,” the report states.

“During this period, the number of active offshore rigs in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico dropped more rapidly, falling by 46 percent.”

Over the past 15 years, the U.S. Gulf of Mexico’s share of active offshore rigs worldwide has declined significantly – from almost half of all active offshore rigs worldwide in 2000 to less than 20 percent since 2008.

Part of the reckoning involves simple mathematics, when viewed in the context of the U.S. embrace of deepwater drilling.

Advancements in technology encouraged development of drilling in water depths of greater than 1,000 feet. That focus resulted in the depar-

ture of rigs that operated in shallow waters.

Natural gas prospects in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, the report says, have also become less profitable, due to on-shore shale increases, cutting the prices of U.S. natural gas.

The Macondo well blowout and the ensuing disaster caused an already declining number of rigs to fall, reaching a low point of 19 in Gulf of Mexico waters, the report says.

The rig count recovered, however, and by December 2014 the number stood at 57; but it has fallen again, according to the latest numbers, currently standing at 33 Gulf of Mexico rigs.

Overseas, meanwhile, there was significant growth

in the years 2000 to 2006 in the Asian Pacific, the Middle East and south of the U.S. border through South America.

“The expansion of offshore drilling in India and China largely accounted for the growth in offshore rigs in the Asia Pacific region,” the report states. Offshore Middle East rigs from Qatar and Iran grew in the early part of this century. After 2006 Saudi Arabia was a more substantial presence.

Angola and Nigeria are responsible for African growth after 2010.

“Angola has more than 10 offshore oil projects expected to come online within the next five years,” the report states. “Nigeria’s offshore activities have been focus-

ing on the deepwater and ultra-deepwater; at least three deepwater projects are in development and are projected to come online within the next five years.”

Local business and government leaders say the greatest cushion for the local oil and gas service industry during its steady fall has been deepwater related as well.

Royal Dutch Shell announced in July what it calls a “final investment decision” to move ahead with the Appomattox deep-water development project in the Gulf of Mexico.

That means the company and its partners are installing what will be their eighth and largest floating platform in the Gulf, with hopes of

175,000 barrels of oil to be produced each day once on line.

“We have again delivered a globally competitive investment scope for another significant deepwater project,” said Marvin Odum, Shell Upstream Americas director. “Appomattox opens up more production growth for us in the Gulf of Mexico, where our production last year averaged about 225,000 barrels per day, and this development will be profitable for decades to come.

With its competitive cost and design, Appomattox is next in our series of deepwater successes.”

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40M acres of oil and gas leases to go on block in ‘16

BY JOHN DESANTIS john@rushing-media.com The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has announced that 40 million acres of oil and gas leases will be auctioned next year, as part of a sale package that will include all available unleased areas in the central and eastern Gulf of Mexico.

The Proposed Gulf of Mexico Central Planning Area Lease Sale 241 and Eastern Planning Area Lease Sale 226 are scheduled to take place in New Orleans in March, a statement from BOEM says.

The agency says these will be the ninth and tenth offshore sales under the Obama Administration’s Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2012-2017.

The lease sales will include both deep water and shallow water sites.

“These sales build on the first eight sales in the current Five-Year Program, which have offered more than 60 million acres and netted nearly $3 billion for American taxpayers,” BOEM’s announcement says.

“As one of the most productive basins in the world, the Gulf of Mexico is a cornerstone of our domestic energy portfolio, offering vital oil and gas resources that further economic growth and continue to reduce our dependence on foreign oil,” said BOEM director Abigail Ross Hopper. “This lease sale is another important step in promoting responsible domestic energy production through the safe, environmentally sound development of the nation’s offshore energy resources, while ensuring a fair return to the American people.”

Proposed CPA Sale 241 will include approximately 7,986 blocks, covering 42.5 million acres, located from three to 230 nautical miles offshore, in water depths ranging from nine to more than 11,000 feet. BOEM estimates the proposed lease sale could result in the production of 460 to 894 million barrels of oil and 1.9 to 3.9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

Proposed Sale 226 will offer approximately 162 blocks, covering 595,475 acres. The blocks are located at least 125 statute miles offshore in water depths ranging from 2,657 feet to 10,213 feet. The area is bordered by the Central Planning Area boundary on the West and the Military Mission Line on the East. It is south of eastern Alabama and western Florida; the nearest point of land is 125 miles northwest in Louisiana. BOEM estimates that proposed lease sale could result in the production of 71 million barrels of oil and 162 billion cubic feet of natural gas.

“The sales’ fiscal terms will continue to ensure a fair return to taxpayers, and include conditions to encourage diligent development as well as ensure an appropriate balance of orderly resource development with protection of the human, marine and coastal environments,” the BOEM statement says.

COURTESY

BOEM representative Randall Southwick delivers a presentation of agency leases

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MARK ATZENHOFFER No Party-Houma

TROY BROWN D-Napoleonville

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NORBY CHABERT R-Houma

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CHRIS DELPIT D-Napoleonville

MIKE FESI R-Houma

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GARY SMITH JR. D-Norco

Supporting Oil & Gas

State Senate candidates weigh in on helping industry

BY JEAN-PAUL ARGUELLO jp@rushing-media.com There isn’t a lot that the Louisiana Legislature can do to pass laws that either benefit or hinder the oil and gas industry, but that doesn’t mean there is nothing they can do.

The Times spoke with each of the Bayou Region Senate delegation incumbents and candidates to see what they believe they can do to affect change in the industry.

Mark Atzenhoffer, No Party-Houma, is running for the 20th Senatorial District against incumbent Norbert “Norby” Chabert and Michael “Mike” Fesi. Atzenhoffer said that legislators can’t really do anything to abate the economic war the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is waging against American shale producers to maintain their share of the world

COURTESY

Workers are busy on an offshore platform. Local State Senate candidates discussed ways that they would help the oil and gas industry this week. Each said that the industry is vital to the long-term success and sustainability of the area. energy market.

But Atzenhoffer said there

are steps that legislators can take to ensure that oil pro-

ducers extract that oil in a responsible manner in order

to protect the state’s other natural resources, but also

protect energy companies from over-regulation.

Atzenhoffer used the case of St. Tammany Parish’s fight against Helis Oil & Gas’s fracking project near Mandeville as an example.

Residents there are concerned that natural geologic features will funnel contaminants into the Abita Springs aquifer. They succeeded in getting the company’s drilling permit issued by the Department of Natural Resources vacated.

Atzenhoffer says this represents a pendulum-swing of legal precedent in the environmentalist’s direction, but that “the pendulum is starting to swing in the other direction.”

“I think it’s started balancing back towards the drilling companies’ [side],” Atzenhoffer said. “…We need to make sure that those companies are protected

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CANDIDATES: Sxxxxxx FROM PAGE C29 from [excessive regulation] to make sure that they can go through the right process, not have the process change in the middle of the game on them, let them do their job.”

But Atzenhoffer said that legislators need to ensure that penalties for sloppy drilling and environmental harm are strong enough to incentivize responsible fracking. He said that a balance must be made between environmentalists and energy companies to ensure there’s not a “free-for-all” where companies can contaminate the environment with impunity.

Michael “Mike” Fesi, R-Houma, who is also running for the 20th Senatorial District, owns Pipeline Construction and Maintenance, Inc, which builds and maintains thousands of miles of oil and natural gas pipelines throughout the United States.

Fesi said his company is different from most in that it generates revenue from outside Louisiana and brings it back home. He said the legislature can create incentives for companies that do that in order to grow that phenomenon.

He also said that currently, many pipelines between the southern and northern United States are currently being reversed to flow southward to increase the nation’s capacity to refine the sweet, light crude produced from American shale plays.

The only problem is that there are legal impediments presented by federal regulators that will create problems for those reversals in the future, when world oil supply drops, creating a

COURTESY | PORT OF TERREBONNE

An offshore rig is busy in its operations in the Gulf of Mexico. Local political candidates said this week that the oil and gas industry is vital to the Houma-Thibodaux area’s future. good information clearinghouse for southern companies about these hurtles will help the industry prepare for and react to the changes down the road.

Fesi also said the state legislature can do more in the area of incentivizing technological innovation in the energy industry in order to reduce production costs for smaller companies that are marginalized because the big players can produce oil and gas cheaper than they can.

Another important step he would take if elected is to examine the permitting process all companies in the energy sector must go

through for virtually all of their operations.

For example, he said, pipeline operators must apply for a slew of permits just to discharge fresh water from their pipelines.

Another example he used was construction of facilities that was halted because CO2 emissions of construction equipment was not factored into emissions permit applications.

“It’s just a bunch of silly things the regulations we need to get our hands around and straighten them up,” Fesi said. “And it’s not regulations [to protect] hazards to the environment, it’s just regulations that don’t

make any common sense anymore.”

Incumbent Sen. Norbert “Norby” Chabert, R-Houma, who is currently representing the 20th Senatorial District, said the legislature needs to create “a fair legal climate” for energy companies to do business in. He said taxes and state regulations need to be examined in order to do that, but didn’t go into any specifics.

Chabert said if he is re-elected, he will seek the Chairmanship of the Natural Resources Committee.

The committee produces legislation that directly affects the oil and gas industry in Louisiana.

“The oil and gas industry constantly finds itself in the crosshairs of just about everybody,” Chabert said. “It’s one of those situations it’s almost on a bill-by-bill basis.

Anybody can file a bill that would have to come through natural resources that will either help or hurt the oil and gas community. We just need to ensure they have a fair environment in which to conduct business in.”

“Chris” Delpit, D-Napoleonville, is running for the 2nd Senatorial District seat against incumbent Troy Brown and candidate Eric Weil.

Delpit said that he hasn’t given what he can do for the oil and gas industry specifically much thought, but that his focus, if elected, would be to encourage the growth of small businesses in the state. He did say that he would speak to experts in a broad spectrum of industries, including oil and gas, to achieve that aim.

Eric Weil, No Party-Napoleonville, used to work for the Department of Natural Resources and the Department of Environmental Quality.

Weil said that the Louisiana Senate has little control over the oil and gas industry.

He did say, though, that there isn’t a need for more laws regulating the oil and gas industry. He said laws currently on the books are sufficient, but that enforcement of those laws is not.

Focus, he said, should be on enforcing the current laws and not creating new ones that would attempt to accomplish what they already do.

Incumbent Sen. Troy Brown, D-Napoleonville, also said the Senate can do little to help or hurt the

industry by way of passing laws. But he did say that legislators can do something to stem the layoffs that have been occurring in the industry.

“I do think that we need to look at implementing some strategies that sort of assist many of these companies,” Brown said. “Something similar to what Congress did when the bottom fell out of the banking industry a few years ago.”

He said that Louisiana doesn’t have as much money as the federal government, but that they must recognize the importance of maintaining Louisiana’s oil and gas production and refining capacity to the whole country’s energy security.

With that in mind, Brown said, the state legislature should be able to work with congress to create some kind of bail-out package for Louisiana companies.

Sen. Gary Smith, Jr., D-Norco, ran unopposed for his District 19 seat. He said he’s no expert on oil and gas, but that if the state doesn’t step in to assist the oil and gas companies, then the state will be “left at a disadvantage” when the price of “oil comes back up.”

He said companies need help to keep their skilled employees and specialized equipment so that when the market rebounds, Louisiana maintains its position as the number one producer of energy for the United States.

“It’s really one of those things where we need to work with the guys in the industry who feel it every day and may see things that we don’t see,” Smith said.

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Clear skies in Lafourche

Leonard Miller Jr. Airport continues to grow, expand

BY CASEY GISCLAIR casey@rushing-media.com The local oil and gas industry has been in a bit of a lull.

But you’d never be able to guess that based on the work going on right now at the South Lafourche Leonard Miller Jr. Airport.

Expansion projects continue to go up throughout the airport – even as the local economy continues its slide.

Port Fourchon Executive Director Chett Chiasson said the facility, which is located on Airport Road in Galliano between East 139th and East 141st streets, is a huge plus to anyone affiliated with the oilfield industry in the Houma-Thibodaux area and beyond. Last year, the airport handled more than 23,000 flights, which transported hundreds of thousands of workers from dry land safely to oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico round-trip.

“The airport is such a huge part of what we’re able to do,” Chiasson said. “Companies are coming in and are investing a lot of money, and we’re grateful for that, certainly. The airport is growing at a very steady rate. That’s something that we’ve been very happy to see and that we expect to continue.”

The airport’s growth has been non-stop and continuous throughout the past several months.

Chiasson said the airport recently completed a $3 million ramp expansion project that was spearheaded because of some of the other expansion efforts that are going on around the airport.

Before that got done, the airport also received enhanced drainage, the director said. “(The expansion) is basically just giving us extra parking areas for planes,” Chiasson said. “It gives

planes access to other areas in the airport. We’re happy to report that that’s done and has been fully completed.

Having that is a huge coup to our facility.”

The port director said RLC, the leading privately-owned helicopter company, is currently going through an expansion project at the airport, as well.

The large-scale helicopter operator already takes off out of Galliano close to 6,000 times a year. That number will be raised significantly when their expansion efforts are completed.

“RLC is moving pretty quickly,” Chiasson said.

“They’re building more helipads for their helicopters and are leasing more property from us in the process, as well.”

But the biggest project going on at the airport is one that is in its final stages.

That would be the $29

million job that Chevron is working on that would move all of the company’s Gulf of Mexico logistics operations to the airport – a project that would move 6,000 workers per month through the airport, and would almost double the activity the facility sees in a month.

Chiasson said the facility is in its “completion stages” and should be finished in the very near future.

The project will cement Chevron’s commitment to South Louisiana, according to company vice president Warner Williams.

He said in addition to operating all of its offshore flights out the local airport, the company will also be able to move workers home quicker in the event of special circumstances like a hurricane, oil spill or any other unexpected events.

Right now, Chevron uses a facility in Leeville – an

airport the business has worked with for more than 50 years. Once the facility in Galliano is complete, all of the company’s Gulf business will be transferred from there to the Galliano site, which will drastically increase the traffic that will flow through that area’s skies.

“This isn’t just a facility, but it’s really the cornerstone of our business in the Gulf of Mexico and certainly a major part of the future of our company,” Williams said. “We’re proud to have our new airbase in Galliano.”

Elected officials are proud, as well.

Lafourche Parish President Charlotte Randolph has been a fan of the Chevron facility from Day 1, touting at an initial ribbon-cutting ceremony that it was “a great day for Lafourche Parish.”

She has since said that when a major company like Chevron invests in your community, it often attracts others to do the same in the future – the No. 1 cause for her excitement.

“From here, so much more can happen,” Randolph said.

So much more – that’s an amazing thought when one considers how far things have come. The port took over the airport from parish government in 2001. Since that time, flight traffic has increased by more than 4,000 percent – from just a few hundred flights a year to more than 23,000.

Once Chevron’s facility is up and operational, that increase will be even more.

“It’s amazing to see,” Chiasson said. “Great things are definitely happening at the airport.”

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2016

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C47

Women are fueling oilfield workforce, but many say more work is yet needed.

Future oil and gas workers being trained for future big roles in the oil and gas industry.

Research since Deepwater horizon disaster indicates invertibrates may help spill clean ups.

It’s not just a man’s world anymore

Class act at Nicholls State

The jellyfish effect

EXPLORATION & PRODUCTION Louisiana is the country’s top crude oil producer when production from its section of the federally administered Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) is included. When that production is excluded, Louisiana ranks seventh in the nation. (Source: EIA) Louisiana is one of the top natural gas-producing States in the country. Including output from the Louisiana Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), Louisiana ranks second in the Nation in natural gas production. Excluding OCS production, Louisiana ranks third. About three-fifths of the State’s natural gas production typically takes place in the OCS, although substantial production takes place in the northern and southern parts of the State, as well as offshore in State waters. (Source: EIA)

LOUISIANA E&P FACTS INCLUDING

LOUISIANA PRODUCES

AN ESTIMATED

79,198,800 BARRELS

OF CRUDE OIL

ANNUALLY,

NOT INCLUDING

OCS PRODUCTION.

SOURCE: LOUISIANA MID-CONTINENT OIL & GAS ASSOCIATION

FEDERAL

OCS PRODUCTION,

LOUISIANA PRODUCED NEARLY

LOUISIANA

PRODUCES AN ESTIMATED

3,040,523 MILLION CUBIC FEET

OF NATURAL GAS

1.25 MILLION ANNUALLY, BARRELS WHICH IS PER DAY IN 2012.

That’s almost 23 percent of the nation’s crude oil production

10.7%

OF TOTAL

U.S. NATURAL GAS

PRODUCTION.

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t s u j t o n s It’

MAN’S WORK Oil and gas companies reaching out to future hires to fortify female workforce

BY MELISSA DUET melissa@rushing-media.com A group of female sophomores from Thibodaux High School filled seats inside a second-floor classroom Friday at Fletcher Technical Community College’s BP Integrated Production Technologies Building, eager to learn more about the opportunities available to them in the oil and gas industry.

The day-long Females Fueling Our Workforce event, sponsored by South Central Industrial Association’s Work It! Louisiana, which will be repeated Friday, gave students from Assumption, Lafourche, St. Mary and Terrebonne parishes a chance to hear from women currently working in the industry and how they too could one day pursue such career paths.

“We’re really excited to provide this opportunity to the students,” Fletcher College and Career Transitions Coordinator Nicol Blanchard said. “We have some really big-name companies that are here to tell them what is available and let them know that females can do these jobs.”

Rebecca Winkel and Tara Anderson of the American Petroleum Institute (API), a national trade association representing all aspects of the industry, shared information from a recent research project that examined the climate of working females in regards to their perceptions of the oil and gas industry. IHS, a Washington, D.C.-based research company that provided information to API, indicat-

ed that 1.3 million oil and gas jobs were and will be available between 2010 and 2030, but only 185,000 were projected to go to women.

“We were looking at this research and going, ‘Well, I love my job and you love your job, so why don’t we have more women in oil and gas?’” Winkel, an economic policy analyst for the institute, said.

API, with the help of survey and political strategy research firms, took this information and conducted focus groups and national surveys with women ages 18-44 to find out what exactly was holding them back from pursuing such careers. Of the women polled, only 3 percent reported applying for a job in the industry, a statistic, Richardson said that indicates females simply don’t know the opportunities available to them.

Once those surveyed were presented with information showing career opportunities with a breakdown of sample salaries and job descriptions, they began to realize the potential, she added. “Their faces changed,” Richardson, director of external mobilization, said of the information, which outlines jobs for everyone from public relations majors to nursing majors, as well as those with industry-specific degrees. “They got excited because they thought, ‘This is my background. I can do this. I can be a woman of oil and gas.’”

Students also heard from women working for the types of companies API represents.

Shelley Piehet, public awareness representative for Shell Pipeline Corporation, discussed her

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MELISSA DUET | THE TIMES

Chevron General Manager of Asset Development Marcia Houghton discusses her management job duties and how students can find success in the industry during the Females Fueling the Workforce event Friday at Fletcher Technical Community College.

community outreach job duties, which include disseminating information on pipeline safety through presentations and planning events. She also keeps in communication with the company’s stakeholders and emergency responders to keep them notified, educated and safe. With a business degree she said she has a very fulfilling career, one that the students could obtain with motivation and a desire to succeed.

“Whatever degree you go to, you do have to work for it,” Piehet explained.

“Look at everything you can do. Don’t underestimate what a career as an engineer is about or what a career as a geologist is about, or one with a business degree. My business degree has put me in a lot of great places and brought me to a lot of great jobs. It’s how you present yourself and what you want to do.”

Marcia Houghton, general manager of asset development for Chevron, encouraged the students to look at their current interests and let that fuel their decision in a college degree program or

job path. Houghton, who noted writing, theater and reading among her young adult interests, combined her passions into a career that now affords her the opportunity to travel internationally and manage the day-to-day operations of 300 employees.

“You would not believe the type of people that work in this industry,” Houghton said. “We have the ones you think of like scientists and engineers, but we also have doctors, nurses, security people, finance people, lawyers ...

There are lots of different people working in the industry that you would not imagine. The door is open.”

Following the presentations, students also toured the building’s 4,000 square foot training laboratory. Fletcher students and faculty demonstrated how some of the state-of-the-art equipment is used to better prepare students for more manual labor-type jobs in oil and gas. The building opened in March 2014 and serves as a hub for the college’s oil and gas-related education and training.

MELISSA DUET | THE TIMES

Fletcher students Hunter White and Mark Charpentier demonstrate how some of the training equipment operates in the BP Integrated Production Technologies Building.

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NSU trains future oil and gas workers

BY CASEY GISCLAIR casey@rushing-media.com As a regional university, it is Nicholls’s job to train its students for the jobs that are available and abundant in southeast Louisiana.

That obviously means that the oil and gas industry is a big piece of the four-year university’s plans – both now and into the future.

Nicholls sends hundreds of men and women into the workforce

each year thanks to curriculum that specializes in oil and gas training.

The university has a Petroleum Engineering Technology and Safety Management department, which has three unique degree programs. The Thibodaux-based college also offers a degree in maritime management, as well as marine biology – programs that deal directly with the oilfield, as well.

Dr. Bruce Murphy, president of Nicholls State University, said that’s by design. He said that if Nicholls wasn’t doing its best to support the oilfield, it wouldn’t be operating to the best of its ability.

“I don’t have to tell you or anybody that oil and gas is a major, major player in our region,” Murphy said. “A large part of our job here is to meet the needs of our workforce. That’s why this university exists, so we definitely

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do our best to meet and train students to fit the needs that go along with that industry.”

PETROLEUM PROGRAM CRUISES ON Murphy lauded Nicholls’ PETSM program – one that has been in existence for 40 years.

The university president said one of the best things that the 400-student program does is it creates flexible curriculum that allows folks already in the industry to stay on their current job while also getting the training and education they need to get a degree.

“We have 7-on, 7-off programs or 14-on, 14-off programs to meet the needs of those workers,” Murphy said. “Doing that gives us what I believe is a big advantage.”

Murphy said the program is “bursting at the seams.”

Nicholls is doing construction work as often as it can to make classrooms wider and more spacious so that it can increase its number of students inside the program.

“Right now, we’re having to turn people away,” the university president said.

Nicholls PETSM executive director Michael Gautreaux said work is ongoing to upgrade facilities that are in the program – a four-phase plan that has already given the university three new classrooms. In the future, it will provide new laboratories, added classroom space and eventually a career and advising placement center that will be for graduates who are entering the oil and gas industry.

“The program has doubled in size over the last three years,” Gautreaux told The Times in August. “We are facing size and space limitations. … We’re working to

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fix that and take care of the large demand we receive.”

One way the university may get that help is through the support of the industry.

Murphy said oilfield companies have always stepped up to support the PETSM program, because of the workers that it then trains and sends back to those businesses.

He said that he cannot yet mention names of specific companies who will pitch into the effort because the deal isn’t yet signed. But Murphy added that the industry leaders locally have been a huge factor in the program’s success.

“The businesses tell us that they have been very happy with our graduates,” Murphy said. “That’s great to hear as we continue to grow.”

KEEPING UP WITH TRENDS ALSO KEY Keeping up with supply and demand is one thing.

Keeping up with the trends in the industry is another.

Murphy said one of the biggest challenges that Nicholls faces is staying on top of industry trends to ensure that students are being trained in the latest and greatest techniques and technologies that they’ll need throughout their careers.

Those needs change – sometimes very quickly.

That places the onus on the university to properly educate and train workers so that they can be ready for the demands that their jobs will present.

Louisiana Oil and Gas Association President Don Briggs said doing that is key and in his experience, Nicholls fits the bill nicely.

“We’ve changed so much,” Briggs said. “The ways in which things are much

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different today compared to how they were done five, 10 or 15 years ago. Workers who show up ready to go are always those who are preferred, and I think that our educational institutions have done a very good job in keeping up with the trends that have been going on throughout the industry.”

Murphy said Nicholls works close with the professional societies of each specific segment of the industry and uses input it gets from each to evolve and push forward.

The university also hosted a forum, inviting several industry leaders to campus to speak to students. That was during the beginning of the industry’s current downturn, and Murphy said the forum was a success because it gave advice to students on how to approach their careers and what to do if jobs aren’t available in abundance after graduation.

“It’s so important that students know the pulse of what’s going on in their career path,” Murphy said.

“You can’t train someone for what was hot five years ago.

You have to train them on what’s hot next year and the years beyond. We take pride in doing that.”

INDIRECT IMPACTS OIL HAS ON NICHOLLS Murphy said the oil and gas industry also has indirect impacts on Nicholls.

The president cited the university’s business degree, which produces accountants, who often end up working in offices for oil and gas-related companies.

“Local CFO’s tell me all of the time that they may, for instance, have 25 accountants and 18 or 20 of those might be Nicholls graduates,” Murphy said. “So for

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Nicholls State University is working hard to train workers for the oil and gas industry jobs that are available in our community. University President Dr. Bruce Murphy said that Nicholls PETSM program is booming and is currently having to turn away students because of the intense demand. us, that’s gratifying.”

Murphy also pointed to the fact that Nicholls has a budding, healthy program for teachers, as well as for nursing – which directly impacts the families of folks who migrate to this region because of jobs in the oilfield.

“If the workers have a family, their children are likely to be taught by a Nicholls graduate – we educate most of the teachers in this area,” Murphy said. “If their child gets sick, we train most of the nurses in this area.

All of that has an indirect impact on the oil and gas industry. You can’t forget those contributions. We’re doing a lot of things away from the actual industry itself that makes our community attractive to these people who are coming in and calling our area home.”

NSU MONITORING TRENDS; SEEING POSITIVE IMPACTS Like anyone else in the community, Murphy said that he follows the news and keeps tabs on the price of oil.

But the recent downswing hasn’t yet touched Nicholls in an adverse way. In some ways, it’s actually had a little bit of a benefit.

Murphy said that we are currently in a period in Louisiana history where statewide funding for higher education isn’t there – even when the local economy is great.

“Things were being cut even when the price of oil was $90 a barrel,” he said.

But now that prices are lower, companies are far more picky about who they employ – some are even laying off workers to save money.

That has created a situation for Nicholls that is

beneficial because obtaining a college degree is more valuable than it has been for quite a while in terms of oilfield jobs – a phenomenon that keeps pupils in Nicholls classrooms.

“We’ve seen people who got laid off come back to school to get their degree,” Murphy said. “We know that studies show that unemployment is far lower in graduates compared to non-graduates. We also know that those with degrees are best protected from these slowdowns and even when they’re laid off, they’re often the first ones who get called back.

“We follow the industry and keep tabs on it, but it doesn’t change a lot for us.

We’re going to keep getting workers ready. Long-term, down the line, we know that our area will need those jobs, so we have to be ready.”

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JP ARGUELLO | THE TIMES

Petroleum Services Instructor Herbert McCoy teaches students in the Applied Sciences program how to cut stainless steel tubing during a class assignment.

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Fletcher program product of industry collaboration Applied Sciences program rains offshore workers in real job environment

BY JEAN-PAUL ARGUELLO jp@rushing-media.com Fletcher Technical Community College is meeting the workforce needs of the oil and gas industry through collaboration with energy companies in developing industry-specific training.

Fletcher’s associate of applied science program produces graduates that are certified deepwater production operators. These operators generally end up working offshore on drilling rigs or oil production platforms, but may also work in the petro-chemical industry because many of the skills they learn translate easily into that industry, according to Crystal Chiasson, workforce development coordinator at the Integrated Production Technologies Building.

The building is the product of collaboration between Fletcher and the industry to create a place where students are exposed to the equipment they will use every day in their careers.

The 30,000-square-foot building sits on the Fletcher campus in Schriever. It is equipped with 10 classrooms, half of which are computer classrooms and the others lecture rooms.

The facility also includes a 4,000-squarefoot lab with more than $1 million worth of lab equipment. The equipment is all technology used offshore.

The lab is lined with bench-scale production equipment, such as a three-phase oil extractor and waste-water separator that students use to learn the mechanics behind the processes involved in the oil and gas industry.

The facility cost $8 million to build, half of which was paid by the State of Louisiana and the other half by BP America Inc. “As you walk down the rows, each one of those things represents a piece of equipment they will encounter offshore,” Fletcher Interim Chancellor Earl Meador told The Times in a previous interview as he pointed down a row of pumps, valves, hydraulic systems and just about every other piece of oil rig equipment.

“We take students who have maybe never seen a machinery environment or even used a screwdriver or wrench in their lives. [By

the end of the course], they have to be competent and comfortable,” he said.

Many of those students eventually work for energy giants. Currently, Fletcher has internship programs with Shell Oil Company and Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, Chiasson said. Fletcher is currently trying to set up internship programs with other companies, but that will take time to finalize, she said.

Most students in the applied sciences program attend classes at night because they work during the day, Chiasson said.

Although Fletcher doesn’t track how many of its students already work in the oil and gas industry, instructors say between 15 and 20 percent of students are already doing so.

One of those students is Megan Robinson, a freshman at Fletcher who currently works as a helicopter coordinator for Noble Energy.

Robinson hopes to get a higher paying position with the company after earning her applied sciences degree.

“There are a lot of people in the industry that have [come] through here to further their positions and go for the higher-paying positions,” Robinson said as she cut stainless steel tubing for a class assignment.

Many graduates end up working for Shell or Anadarko, but also Danos, InterTech, BP America, Schlumberger, Wood Group, Oceaneering International, PDI Solutions and Ardent Eagle Solutions, to name a few.

“Even some people have gone to work for Terrebonne [Parish] Consolidated Government at the Water Works,” Chiasson said.

“Because some of the equipment in [the lab] is used at the plant.”

It’s no surprise that graduates of the applied sciences program end up working for such high profile companies since the Integrated Production Technologies Building houses the Deepwater Center for Workforce Excellence.

The designation was given by the Louisiana Board of Regents and brings industry leaders and college administrators together to create curriculum and academic standards that will generate the best offshore specialists possible, said Jessica Thornton, executive director of Institutional Advancement.

Those standards require that students ful-

JP ARGUELLO | THE TIMES

Fletcher junior Daniel Long practices cutting stainless steel tubing during class at the BP Integrated Production Technologies laboratory last week. Students are taught essential skills for working in industries ranging from oil production to petro chemical.

ly understand and grasp complex concepts that are better learned through animation.

For example, director of research and development Steven Lee uses software programs 3D Max and Real Flow to demonstrate in-depth analysis of how fluids flow through piping and pumps as well as how mechanical equipment operates.

“A lot of people do 3D, but fluid animation is not so common at all,” Lee said. “The fluid simulation has dozens of parameters like viscosity, density, specific gravity, internal and external pressures and internal and external temperatures. There are a lot of physics and mathematical algorithms. You end up with something that looks quite real.”

Professors have access to gigabytes of ready-made animations for concept demon-

strations and can request a custom one from Lee. Fletcher is adding another impressive feature to the IPT building, as well. Construction has just begun on an oil production platform alongside the building where students will be able to apply their newly acquired skills to a quasi-real world environment, Chiasson said.

The platform will be elevated and will have all of the equipment students will encounter offshore, she said. It will behave like a real offshore platform.

“It serves as an example of our commitment to teaching our students the theoretical world in there,” Chaisson said as she pointed toward the lab, “and the real world as well.”

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Catering companies give offshore workers all of the comforts of home

BY CASEY GISCLAIR casey@rushing-media.com Working on an offshore rig isn’t easy.

But that doesn’t mean that hospitality is lost on the oil and gas industry. There are countless companies who employ men and women with one sole purpose: to make sure that rig workers are comfortable and feel like they are at home – even if several miles away from the shore.

Offshore catering and hospitality companies bring a slice of home to oil and gas employees who often work long hours in temperatures that are sometimes too hot or too cold.

Hospitality companies cook, clean, do laundry and anything else that allows workers to relax and be at ease during their downtime at work.

“This industry has thousands of individuals who are selfless and who work to take care and bring

comfort to the people working on the rigs,” Louisiana Oil and Gas Association President Don Briggs said. “Their contributions aren’t taken for granted. Things wouldn’t be able to go as seamlessly as they do on those rigs without folks working to cook and clean and give hospitable conditions to workers.”

A lot of work is done on an oilrig besides the actual process of extracting the oil from the ocean floor.

Sonoco is a Houma-based service

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and hospitality company that works on offshore rigs throughout the Gulf of Mexico.

Sonoco Vice President of Operations Mark Hepburn said the easiest way to appreciate the contributions made by hospitality companies is to think of an offshore rig like its own, individual town floating in the Gulf of Mexico.

This nautical city has no connection to land, but still has hundreds of people that inhabit it on any given day.

Hepburn said the amount of food that is cooked offshore is “a huge number.”

He did a little math to break down what the average rig might go through in food throughout the year.

“Let’s say your rig has 200 people,” Hepburn speculated. “At three meals a day, that’s 600 meals served a day, plus snacks. So on your average day, you’re going to serve between 400 and 450 pounds of meat a day, and that’s just raw meat alone – not counting rice, fruits, vegetables, pastas or anything else. That’s 82 tons of meat a year served on the average rig.”

The biggest challenge of preparing that much food each day is dealing with the unpredictable work schedules that workers often have when laboring offshore.

Hepburn said that a rig’s galley works at flexible hours to accommodate workers who might end a shift at night, but will still be in need of a meal.

He said that no mouth will ever go unfed – no matter what time or hour that he/ she is craving food.

“It’s never hard to find food,” Hepburn said.

“There’s always something somewhere.”

And there’s a ton of variety, as well. Offshore galley

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‘Boats used to order crab legs, lobsters and steaks. They used to be pretty lax with their food budgets, but not anymore.’

MARK HEPBURN

Sonoco Vice President of Operations

hospitality cooks prepare several multi-course meals a day to ensure that everyone aboard has a taste for something that’s on the menu.

“Not everyone eats or likes the same things,” Hepburn said. “That’s accounted for.”

The Sonoco official said that some rigs even take into account dieting, diabetes and other dietary concerns when putting together the list of things for hospitality workers to whip up.

If not cooking, Sonoco and other hospitality companies are busy doing laundry, cleaning rigworker’s rooms and sheets and doing whatever possible to give a hotel-like feel to the worker’s stay.

“We are a lot like a hotel business in many ways,” Hepburn said. “We do all of the same things they do.”

But like everything else in the industry, a downturn in the price of oil is impacting the amenities that are offered to workers.

Hepburn said that Sonoco hasn’t seen much change in its business, because “catering is only a small expense

in the rig’s actual day-today budget.” He added that companies have mostly cut down on product variety in the kitchen.

“Every rig has candy,” Hepburn said. “Now, they just might not have every, single brand of every, single kind of candy that every person on the rig requested and wanted.”

But others in the industry didn’t paint as bright of a picture.

A local worker who works for a company that ships groceries and supplies to offshore rigs and vessels has said that business has taken a hit.

The worker, who asked that he and his employer not be named out of fear that it would affect relationships with clients, said that offshore boats and rigs are cutting costs when making their grocery purchases.

“Boats used to order crab legs, lobsters and steaks,” the grocery supply employee said. “They used to be pretty lax with their food budgets, but not anymore. The price of oil dropping has put less

people on boats and rigs, and companies won’t go over their budgets by a penny.”

He then said that even through the struggles, supply and hospitality remains big business.

“There are some vessels that buy as much as $30,000 per week in groceries with us,” he said. “They’re just

ordering less ribeyes and more frozen pizzas.”

Port Fourchon Executive Director Chett Chiasson agreed. He said that folks don’t understand the trickle-down effect that a slow oil and gas industry has on the entire community.

“It affects workers in the industry,” he said. “It affects

stores. It affects car dealerships. It affects restaurants.

It affects movie theaters. It lowers sales taxes, which affects everything in our community. The things that happen in Port Fourchon and offshore drive what happen up the road and in our communities.”

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There is a lot of food on an offshore rig. According to experts, 400-to-450-pounds of meat are prepared on a rig in a day.

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Questions Linger

Court favors Eagle Dry Dock against Terrebonne Port Now Eagle has filed its own lawsuit against the port

BY JOHN DESANTIS john@rushing-media.com The stinging and lengthy court decision that brought an end to the Port of Terrebonne’s lawsuit against a major tenant – and the court action against the port that the original case spawned – leave a major question unanswered by either party.

Why would a public entity like the Terrebonne Port Commission seek to derail the tenancy of an operation like Eagle Dry Dock, a curious alleged outcome the litigation hints at but which so far remains unsubstantiated.

Representatives on both sides of the long-standing dispute say the suit brought

by Eagle after its eviction from the port was waylaid by the Louisiana 1st Circuit Court of Appeal is the subject of intense negotiation, and will likely result in some type of settlement.

But the case remains a thorn in the side of the port and its director, David Rabalais, whose ousting was demanded of – and rejected by – commission members.

“The board has chosen not to make any statement on the case at this time,” Rabalais said, when asked for comment on the ignored plea for his removal and the current litigation.

Ronnie Chiasson, owner of the Houma dry dock firm, has had plenty to say,

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A barge at the Eagle Dry Dock at the Port of Terrebonne undergoes work by employees of the business. Eagle was sued by the Port of Terrebonne for allegedly not complying with lease requirement but prevailed.

however.

“I want the public to know about this,” said Chiasson, referring in particular to the $250,000 price tag payable by the port for the litigation that has taken place thus far.

“There is no reason for it.

And the public is paying for it. We are all paying for it.”

Court documents tell a portion of the history, but give few clues to why things got to the point they did.

It all started when the Port of Terrebonne leased prime waterfront property to Eagle in 2006, and amended the lease in 2009.

Under the terms of the lease, Eagle was required to stabilize the shoreline of the property, “through use of bulkhead, gobi-mats or any others means “approved by the Port” within three years of the company’s development of the property.

There was a default clause in the lease, which mandated that any performance required of Eagle persisting over 30 days – once official notice was given – would result in a cancellation of the lease if uncorrected.

Such a breach would be considered as cured, the lease agreement states, if the problem is corrected within 30 days and continues with “reasonable diligence” cor-

recting the discrepancy.

The court papers say that in May 2011, Rabalais was conducting a survey of a property adjacent to Eagle’s dock, and observed what he stated was erosion of the Eagle property, and he wrote to Ronald Chiasson, Eagle’s owner.

A month prior to that, according to court records, the port had expressed an intent to stabilize the bank

on Eagle’s property and that it would build up an existing limestone slope from water to land to a better grade.

“Once this grade is achieved, articulating concrete mats should be placed on the surface of the limestone,” the port’s engineering report states.

As a result of those details an August 2011 supplement to the lease was executed.

It contains a provision that says Eagle would begin the process of obtaining state and federal permits required for the concrete mats, and that they must be obtained within six months of the effective lease supplement date.

Eagle, the supplement states, was required to complete 25 percent of the mats within six months of work starting, with further installations required at six month increments afterward.

The purpose of the project was, court papers say, “to reclaim lost property due to erosion and mechanical dredging.”

The port communicated that a bulkhead would require installation as well.

Plans moved forward and Chiasson secured permits from Terrebonne Parish and the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources by February 2012, court papers say.

But the Corps of Engineers did not issue theirs until May, three months past the agreed-upon deadline.

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Work on vessels continued unabated at Eagle Dry Dock when the fate of its Port of Terrebonne lease was argued in court. The dry dock won at trial and appeal. Now Eagle has sued the Port.

“If we are going to meet the schedule we need to start the project as soon as possible,” Chiasson said in a May 15 email to Rabalais.

“This would be a good time to begin preparing the bank for the mats. Are you okay with us starting?”

After Chiasson forwarded the plans to Rabalais, according to the court papers, the port director asked for a few days to get the drawings reviewed and a report from the port engineer.

During engineering discussions Rabalais asked the firm doing the checking, GSE, to make sure that “the toe of the mats go far enough out from the bank.”

GSE objected to the way the slope of the concrete was angled in the plans, or at least the appearance of how it was angled.

Rabalais, based on his communications with GSE, which determined that a scale problem in the drawing was what gave

the impression of an error, told Chiasson to go ahead, stating “as long as the mats are placed on a 3:1 slope or greater and the mats extend out until the 3:1 slope terminates naturally to a flatter slope, we are okay with the design.”

Eagle considered the email to be an approval and had a contractor forming the concrete mats on site.

Construction of the mats began in July and Rabalais sent an email to Chiasson stating that he needed to verify that the mats were designed and built correctly.

Rabalais, according to the court documents, later asserted that Eagle’s contractor was not cooperating with the oversight and that the port, therefore, was shutting the project down.

Eagle’s attorney then questioned the port on what he perceived as changes to the plans beyond what was initially agreed.

The attorney told Rabalais

that the port could not “just arbitrarily and unilaterally keep insisting on additional engineering work on a project that has already been approved by everyone.”

The following day, Rabalais sent an email to Chiasson asking if Eagle would be willing to give up the lease and the properties if someone else had an interest in them; Chiasson said he would consider doing so and, despite a suggestion of Rabalais, the court documents state, continued mat construction.

On July 26, 2012, attorneys for the port sent a letter to Rabalais stating they had violated the lease because it did not allow the port engineers to inspect the work.

Another notice of default was sent in August, that one stating the necessary permits were not secured in a timely fashion.

Chiasson, according to the court papers, began to feel that the port was looking

for excuses to terminate the lease.

The permits obtained from the corps, communication in the court documents states, were inadequate for approval of the plans as written from the port’s point of view.

More allegations of default, therefore, were sent to Chiasson by the port’s attorneys.

The communications, a 1st Circuit Court of Appeal decision, revealed conflicting understandings between the port and Chiasson.

Eagle kept doing work on the mats and problems with the Port escalated.

On Aug. 17, 2012, the port filed a petition in court to dissolve the lease, alleging two defaults.

The port sought to have Eagle barred from further

work on the mats.

Less than a month later, on Sept. 13, the port told Eagle it was immediately canceling the lease.

Eagle commenced a court action against the port, and the battle was on.

In May, 2013, 32nd Judicial District Judge Randy Bethancourt dismissed the port’s attempt to evict Eagle.

The port appealed, throwing the matter into the lap of the 1st Circuit, which upheld Bethancourt’s decision.

“The trial court clearly credited Eagle’s argument that it had not breached its obligations under either the lease or the supplement,” the appeals court found.

Eagle did not have to move and still occupies its space at the Port of Terrebonne.

“I am not going any-

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where,” Chiasson said after the July appeals court decision. “This is a lawsuit that never should have happened in the first place. This should not have happened to me. They put me through a lot of undue expense and health issues.”

Although Chiasson and others affiliated with Eagle Dry Dock have suggested that the real reason by the port’s insistence – Chiasson has hinted that there was a desire to make the property available to another tenant or a new one – there is no evidence of that in the countersuit now being negotiated.

“I would like to know that myself,” said attorney Jerry Herman, who represented the dry dock.

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SHIPWRECKED

Gulf shipwrecks studied for oil spill effects

BY JOHN DESANTIS john@rushing-media.com Studies of the effects from oil and dispersants related to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster are by now familiar fare in scientific journals and other publications, as scientists seek knowledge about how the spill has affected life below the Gulf of Mexico’s surface as well as on shore.

But dolphins and turtles, insects and birds aren’t the only things being studied.

Teams of scientists in cooperation with universities and federal agencies – including the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium in Cocodrie – have been trolling the Gulf to check on how shipwrecks lying at its bottom have fared, and to use the opportunity to gain knowledge on how oil and dispersants affect ancient wood and vintage steel.

Scientists affiliated with the U.S. Bureau of Energy Management took to Gulf waters in 2014 and again this year, aboard LUMCON’s flagship vessel Pelican, documenting exposure to wrecks on the Gulf bottom.

Of particular interest to some researchers are the microbes found on wreck surfaces, which are being used as a barometer to determine the health of the surrounding environment overall.

“Microbes make the world go round,” said Leila Hamdan, who led a team from George Mason University.

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(Above) A segment of wood from a ship that wrecked in the Gulf of Mexico at least 200 years ago is among samples being checked for effects of Deepwater Horizon oil. The map at left notes the ship wreck sites that scientists are checking, all in areas affected by the BP spill.

“If you want to understand the whole environment, you have to start with the microbes. What you can’t see when you look at the water is

the invisible majority.”

An environmental science and policy professor, Hamdan and her students spent seven days on the Pelican,

paying particular attention to Gulf wrecks.

The wrecks are where microbes create “biofilms” – sticky mini-environments

upon which other life builds – and whose health can affect that of larger plants and animals living in the water.

The BOEM teams inves-

tigated eight shipwrecks in water depths ranging from approximately 450 feet to more than 7,500 feet in the National Oceanographic Partnership Program-sponsored studies. Dubbed the Gulf of Mexico Shipwreck Corrosion, Hydrocarbon Exposure, Microbiology, and Archaeology or GOM-SCHEMA, the project is funded through interagency agreements with the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory and Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, George Mason University and the University-National Oceanographic Laboratories System. In addition to LUMCON, other collaborators include the Joye Research Group at the University of Georgia, Droycon Bioconcepts, Inc., Montana State University and Deep Sea Systems International.

The shipwrecks included three World War II-era steelhulled vessels and five pre20th century wooden hulled sailing ships. Two research cruises were completed in 2014 and an additional one was completed in April.

Results of the research have not yet been published, and scientists say their findings may take a while to determine.

Meanwhile student volunteers say the experience has been enlightening.

“All scientists here have been a pleasure to work with,” said George Mason student Chrissy Figan. “It’s been a remarkable experience doing science at sea.”

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Satellite images show slick attributed to the Taylor Energy spill, and the location of the downed platform which has gone on for a decade but is now the subject of a court settlement. (Below) Statue in the lobby of the Taylor Foundation, created by the founder of Taylor Energy.

Settlement reached in suit over decade-long leak LUMCON among beneficiaries from Taylor Energy suit

BY JOHN DESANTIS john@rushing-media.com The Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium in Cocodrie is among organizations that will benefit from a $400,000 cash award resulting from a lawsuit by environmental organizations against a defunct oil exploration company whose toppled drilling rig has continually leaked oil into the Gulf of Mexico for more than a decade.

But the plaintiffs say it is another provision of the settlement – elimination of secrecy that has kept details of the leak from the public – that is the most defining and significant overall benefit.

“When we began this lawsuit, the public was completely in the dark about what was happening with this ongoing oil spill,”

said Mark Yaggi, Executive Director of the Waterkeeper Alliance, one of the organizations that brought suit against now-defunct Taylor Energy. “This agreement

will provide much needed transparency, and therefore accountability, surrounding the response process.

We hope that once the veil of secrecy has been lifted,

independent experts will look at what Taylor has done so far and provide insight as to whether there is more that can be done to stop this spill.”

The problem was first reported to federal authorities by Taylor Energy in 2004, following the toppling of a platform about 12 miles southeast of the Mississippi River’s mouth by Hurricane Ivan.

The platform, Mississippi Canyon 20-A, lorded over 28 producing oil and gas wells.

As a result of the calamity, oil began spilling into the Gulf.

The amounts of oil, according to initial estimates provided by Taylor and the Coast Guard, were considered minimal once some capping had been done. The Taylor spill did not receive any public attention.

That changed in 2010, ironically as the result of a monumental oil disaster.

A West Virginia non-profit environmental organization, Skytruth, was scanning

publicly available satellite images of the Gulf on a daily basis, while monitoring the BP oil spill.

“We were tracking the growth of the oil slicks from the BP spill ,” said David Manthos, Skytruth’s communications director.

“We realized this spill off the delta doesn’t look like it is connected and that this has been going on for a while, and sent the information to our partners.”

The partners were the Waterkeeper Alliance, Apalachicola Riverkeeper and the Louisiana Environmental Action Network.

The organizations studied what data and reports were available about the spill, learning that the responsible party was Taylor Energy, a now-defunct New SEE TAYLOR, PAGE C46

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TAYLOR: Unending oil spill in Gulf of Mexico requires public notice and disclosures a judge has ruled FROM PAGE C45

Orleans-based exploration company. The recorded data, environmental advocates suspected, represented lower volumes of oil than

continued satellite images suggested.

Alleging that Taylor was not adequately addressing the ongoing spill and seeking release of more information, the organizations filed

suit in federal court against Taylor, with the aid of the Tulane University Law School Environmental Law Clinic.

“The relief that was sought was abatement of the leak,

to make it stop,” said Adam Babich, director of the clinic.

The settlement, agreed to last month, includes what Babich said is “a waiver of confidentiality as to most documents,” Babich said.

“What had been going on was Taylor and the Coast Guard were treating all the information about the response as confidential.

Taylor had sued the Coast Guard to prevent the release of information.”

Meetings held since the suit was filed resulted in the upgrading of spill information. Reports in prior years had put the amount of oil spilled at about four gallons per day. The estimates now are at 85 gallons per day.

Paul Orr, the Lower Mississippi Riverkeeper of Louisiana Environmental Action Network said that to him it was clear to him that Taylor wanted to keep as much information about the spill as secret as possible.

“They made no bones about the fact that they did not want the public to know about what was happening,” Orr said. “We strongly believe that when public resources like the waters and fisheries of the Gulf are affected by private enterprise that the public has a right to know what is happening and that their interests should be represented. The U.S. Government has failed at its responsibility to inform the public and represent their interests and that is where Waterkeepers come in, to restore the democratic principles we seem to be losing to corporate power.”

Taylor Energy Company sold off its assets to a South Korean company and another international firm, but maintains one full-time employee in the U.S. who could not be reached for comment.

A charitable organization, the Patrick F. Taylor Foundation, continues the philanthropic work of its namesake, the energy

company’s founder. But a spokesman for the foundation said it is not involved with the litigation.

The suit is important, environmental advocates said, because it indicates a baseline that could guard against future abuse by oil companies as well as the government in terms of information release.

LUMCON Director Nancy Rabalais said it is too soon to know how the money headed toward Cocodrie will be utilized.

Parties to the suit said they are confident that a gift to LUMCON can go a long way toward aiding continued research on the Gulf of Mexico, and thus benefit its long-term health.

LUMCON has “a long history of conducting research and education programs on the environment and the health of the Gulf of Mexico,” said LEAN Executive Director Marylee Orr, who also oversees the Lower Mississippi Riverkeeper program. “We are excited that this Supplemental Environmental Project will help LUMCON study and mitigate the impacts of oil pollution on the Gulf.”

‘They made no bones about the fact that they did not want the public to know about what was happening.’

PAUL ORR

Lower Mississippi Riverkeeper of Louisiana Environmental Actino Network

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The Jellyfish Effect

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DWH-related research says critters help with spilled oil Researchers are investigating if and how the small underwater waves and currents created by jellyfish movements can help break up oil spilled in marine ecosystems.

BY JOHN DESANTIS john@rushing-media.com Like the proverbial butterfly whose wing-beat can set off weather events an ocean away, the lowly jellyfish is being cited as having a potential for power greater than itself, by affecting the interaction between the sea and oil from spills.

The research, chronicled in the magazine Smithsonian, is the result of programs put in place following the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

“Jellyfish push water in and out of their bells to propel themselves forward,” explains a statement issued through the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative, a scientific network partially funded by BP after the Deepwater Horizon disaster. “Researchers are investigating if and how the small underwater waves and currents created

by Jellyfish movements can help break up oil spilled in marine ecosystems.”

Additionally, the team of scientists working the jellyfish angle are examining mucus produced by jellyfish in response to stressors like oil in their environment, and how that mucus enhances the growth of oil-eating bacteria.

Smithsonian’s article featured the work of scientist Brad Gemmell. As a member of a consortium researching the Gulf, Gemmell and others are monitoring jellyfish movements and their effect

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A jellyfish in the Gulf of Mexico is among those studied by scientists seeking to learn how the invertebrates interact with spilled oil.Their movements may help distribute dispersants and mucus they secrete could help oil-eating microbes. on oil droplets in the ocean, as well as the effects of their mucus secretions on the oil-degrading bacteria.

The GOMRI grant that helps pay for the research was given to the consortium, called Dispersion Research on Oil: Physics and Plankton Studies. GOMRI has been promised overall funding for the next decade, to study the effect and the potential as-

sociated impact of hydrocarbon releases on the environment and public health.

The program is also tasked with developing improved oil spill mitigation, oil detection and remediation.

An independent, 20-member academic research board makes the funding and research direction decisions, a GOMRI statement says, to “ensure the intellectual

quality, effectiveness and academic independence of the research.”

Part of the GOMRI mandate is that all research data, findings and related publications be made publicly available.

BP made an initial $500 million contribution to kick off the program.

Prior research on jellyfish and related creatures

released last year showed that some adult species have higher tolerance for crude oil toxins. But that’s not necessarily good news.

“Some of the most toxic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons bioaccumulated in these zooplankton,” that study said, indicating that while they can serve as sentinels that tell us of crude oil spills “they provide a

possible pathway for (toxins) to enter the marine food web and potentially be transferred up the food web.”

The new research shows that no matter their individual tolerance levels, jellyfish react to crude oil in such a way as to unwittingly aid efforts in combatting a spill, such as through their movements or their mucus secretion.

“Chemical dispersants require movement to properly react and break oil down into tiny droplets,” the Smithsonian article based on Gemmell’s research, written by Emily Frost, explains.

“Waves at and below the surface and currents can do this work, slowly mixing the dispersant into the oil like mixing vinegar with olive oil. Plankton and jellyfish water cycling could aid in this mixing process –and under the right circumstances, they could make the use of dispersants unnecessary.”

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Era super base keeps industry flying

BY JOHN DESANTIS john@rushing-media.com

Three helicopter companies routinely fly their craft

in and out of bases at the Houma-Terrebonne Airport,

PHI, Bristow and Era. Era is making the biggest

news currently, however, as it settles into routine operations at its new “Super Base.”

Opened in June, the Houston-based aviation firm’s Houma operation sits on 35 acres in Houma.

The facilities include a new passenger terminal and climate-controlled hangar.

According to the company the terminal and hangar have state-of-the-art technology and safety systems, and capabilities for increased security screening.

The base was built, the company says, with built-in storm protection for aircraft, is geared toward cutting down on out-bound and inbound traveling restrictions, and can support helicopter operations in many types of weather conditions.

“As the premier heliport serving the U.S. Gulf Coast area, Era’s new Houma base directly reflects our commitment to delivering safe, efficient and reliable transportation services to our customers,” said Chris Bradshaw, president, chief executive officer and chief financial officer of Era Group.

“In addition to supporting

our existing customers, the enhanced facilities and infrastructure will help drive the expansion of our customer base.”

The base’s automated kiosks, increased baggage transfer capabilities, enhanced security screening and additional customer service functions will streamline passenger processing, Bradshaw said. Among the customer waiting area amenities are Era flight status screens, television and wi-fi.

Expanded parking areas and shuttle services are also available.

The base is expected to house more than 30 aircraft, and the company says 15,000 passengers per month are projected to be traveling to and from offshore oil and gas installations in the Gulf of Mexico.

Era, a publicly traded company, is one of the largest helicopter operators in the world and the longest serving helicopter transport operator in the U.S. The company also provides helicopters and related services to third-party helicopter operators and customers in other countries.

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2016

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Local oil and gas service firms plead their case to Congressional committee in New Orleans.

Terrebonne Parish officials say lots of work is being done to guard against future damage from similar hurricanes.

State laws aimed at curbing effects of oil and gas lawsuits need further tweaking, industry leaders maintain.

U.S. Reps hear of grim future

LOUISIANA REFINERIES LOUISIANA RANKS SECOND AMONG THE 50 STATES IN PETROLEUM REFINING CAPACITY.

LOUISIANA USES 17 REFINERIES TO HANDLE OVER 3.0 MILLION BARRELS OF CRUDE OIL PER DAY.

AT ITS PEAK, THE STATE HAD MORE THAN 30 REFINERIES OPERATING IN LOUISIANA.

OPERATING REFINERIES IN LOUISIANA ACCOUNT FOR 18% OF THE NATION’S REFINING CAPACITY.

EXXONMOBIL’S REFINERY LOCATED IN BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA IS THE THIRD LARGEST REFINERY IN THE UNITED STATES.

MARATHON’S REFINERY LOCATED IN GARYVILLE, LOUISIANA IS THE FOURTH LARGEST IN THE UNITED STATES.

LOUISIANA’S REFINERIES SERVE THE STATES OF LOUISIANA, TEXAS, MISSISSIPPI, ALABAMA, FLORIDA AND THE EASTERN SEABOARD. SOURCE: LOUISIANA MID-CONTINENT OIL & GAS ASSOCIATION

Revisiting Rita

Legacy suits

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KARL GOMMEL | THE TIMES

Rep. Garret Graves asks a question during the House Committee on Natural Resources hearing in New Orleans. The hearing focused on proposed regulations for oil production in the Gulf of Mexico.

A Grim Future?

Locals to Congressmen: New oil regs could crush small business KARL GOMMEL karl@rushing-media.com A local small business leader testified before a Congressional committee about the negative effects of incoming regulations on the oil industry.

Lori Davis, president of RIG-CHEM, carried that message to the House Committee on Natural Resources in the Louisiana Supreme Court building earlier this month. She joined a panel of four others to talk with congressmen about federal regulations impacting oil production in the Gulf of Mexico.

The hearing, featuring the majority members of the committee, was comprised of all Republicans. The congressmen at the hearing espoused a pro-oil platform, calling for less stringent regulations.

Before the panel spoke with the committee, Louisiana’s two U.S. senators offered statements to the hearing. Sen. David Vitter read the names of the 11 lives lost at the Deepwater Horizon explosion, noting their deaths were the biggest tragedy of that incident. He went on to say that these new regulations would present “significant new burdens on the economy with no envi-

ronmental or safety impact.”

Sen. Bill Cassidy followed Vitter, calling federal regulations counterproductive, as oil revenues the state receives directly fund wetland restoration projects.

Cassidy cited an industry report estimating new blowout preventer regulations would cost the oil industry more than $32 billion over 10 years.

Afterward, Davis’ panel took center-stage. Davis was joined by a federal regulator, the head of an oil and gas firm, an environmentalist and an LSU professor.

Davis aimed to represent small businesses in the oil industry at the hearing. She spoke of her own small business, started by her father in 1980. Davis noted that her company currently employs 16 people with full benefits, and has never had to lay off a worker.

However, Davis also fretted about the current oil market and its effects on small businesses like hers. According to Davis, sharply declining oil prices are threatening to push companies like hers out of the market. She was glad to be able to represent small businesses and what these new regulations could mean for companies like hers.

“We are a big part of what

happens in the industry and many times we are forgotten, because in fact we are small companies. We’re not the Schlumbergers and Halliburtons of the world with all the huge resources. It’s good to be included today,” Davis said after the hearing.

A main point of contention was the discrepancy between figures stated by the committee and the figures stated by panelist Lars Herbst, regional director of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement. Herbst presented the new regulations as a means to improve safety in Gulf drilling while keeping up production. Herbst estimated that the incoming regulations would cost the oil industry $880 million over 10 years, considerably less than the $32 billion listed in the industry report Cassidy used.

Herbst said he included the effects of increased safety in his significantly lower estimation. He also said the updated blowout preventer requirements would reduce the number of spills over the next decade, resulting in lower cleanup costs.

The congressmen present and those representing the oil industry on the panel proposed a different plan for regulation. They stated

KARL GOMMEL | THE TIMES

Lori Davis, President of RIG-CHEM, told the committee about the effects proposed regulations could have on small businesses in the oil industry.

a need for more performance-based means that the industry would induce themselves, instead of prescriptive rules from a regulatory body like BSEE. Davis said that any of these prescriptive measures weakening the overall oil industry would affect her directly.

“It’ll limit the amount of opportunity. And small business has a harder time competing. When there’s

not as much work out there, certainly the bigger service companies want to capitalize on that. They can withstand, they can weather the storms, a lot longer than we can,” Davis said.

Davis said RIG-CHEM has planned ahead enough that there will be no layoffs before the end of the year.

The future, murky with new regulations and OPEC’s price-deflating tactics, is not as certain.

“We’ve secured ourselves in a financial position that we know that we can hold on and weather through without having to lay anybody off or make any kind of adjustments in what we’ve already done. We’re tightening our belts. We’re doing that now, and we’ve been doing that for the last several months. It’s hard to know what the future’s going to hold,” she said.

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Halliburton ordered to pay nearly $18.3M in overtime

BY JOHN DESANTIS john@rushing-media.com Oil services giant Halliburton is required to pay nearly $18.3 million in overtime owed to more than 1,000 employees nationwide, following a U.S. Labor Department investigation.

Neither the DOL nor Halliburton could confirm whether the workers affected are employed in or from the Houma area or vicinity.

But the decision could have effects for all Halliburton workers because it was based on an employee classification system that federal investigators determined to be flawed.

A Labor Department statement called the $18,292,557 it has ordered dispensed one of “the largest recoveries of overtime wages in recent years.”

Halliburton, the Labor Department announced, has agreed to pay the sum to 1,016 employees nationwide.

A Halliburton spokesperson could not immediately be reached for comment. But an unnamed spokeswoman told industry publications last week that the company’s misclassification of employees was discovered during an audit by the company.

“Throughout this process, Halliburton has worked earnestly and cooperatively with the U.S. Department of Labor to equitably resolve this situation,” is the statement that was attributed to the spokeswoman.

The department’s Wage and Hour Division investigated Halliburton as part of an ongoing, multi-year compliance initiative in the oil and gas industry.

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The Houston headquarters of Halliburton, which was ordered by the U.S. Department of Labor to pay back overtime owed to employees.

“The Department of Labor takes very seriously its responsibility to ensure workers receive the wages they have earned. This settlement will put millions of dollars where they belong – in the pockets of hardworking people and their families,” said U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez.

“Employers who don’t pay their employees the wages they have earned don’t just hurt their workers, they undercut employers who play by the rules. That’s why we work every day to help level the playing field.”

Investigators found Halliburton incorrectly categorized employees in 28 job positions as exempt from overtime. The compa-

ny did not pay overtime to these salaried employees – working as field service representatives, pipe recovery specialists, drilling tech advisors, perforating specialists and reliability tech specialists – when they worked more than 40 hours in a workweek, in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The company also failed to keep accurate records of hours worked by these employees, the Labor Department determined.

“The Wage and Hour Division’s ongoing education and enforcement initiative addresses changes in the fast-growing oil and gas industry,” the Department of Labor statement reads.

“The agency seeks to ensure

industry employers comply with labor laws. The oil and gas industry also depends on many related businesses – trucking, lodging, water and stone haulers, staffing companies and others – to support its operation. Working with industry leaders, employers and trade associations, the division offers training and education to promote compliance and awareness of FLSA requirements. By doing so, it is encouraging industry leaders to serve as models for industry-wide compliance. At the same time, the division is informing workers and community groups about the initiative, their rights as workers, the division’s services and its

availability to review and investigate worker complaints regarding violations.”

Betty Campbell, the Wage and Hour Division’s southwest regional administrator, said the agency uses a combination of enforcement and education to help employers comply with federal law and workers to be protected.

“Ignorance is never an excuse for violating the law,” Campbell said. “The Wage and Hour Division offers a great deal of compliance assistance and stands ready to help workers and employers alike. We welcome and appreciate the cooperation of employers, like Halliburton, as we continue our investigations and educate employers about how wage viola-

tions hurt their industry and our nation’s economy.”

Founded in 1919, Halliburton is one of the world’s largest providers of products and services to the energy industry. The company has more than 70,000 employees, representing 140 nationalities in more than 80 countries worldwide.

Simply paying an employee a salary does not necessarily mean the employee is not eligible for overtime, the Labor Department statement says.

The FLSA provides an exemption from both minimum wage and overtime pay requirements for individuals employed in bona fide executive, administrative, professional and outside sales positions, as well as certain computer employees.

To qualify for the exemption, a Labor Department document says, employees generally must meet certain tests regarding their job duties and be paid on a salary basis at not less than $455 per week.

“Job titles do not determine exempt status. In order for an exemption to apply, an employee’s specific job duties and salary must meet all the requirements of the department’s regulations,” the statement reads.

The FLSA requires that covered, non-exempt employees be paid at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour for all hours worked, plus time and onehalf their regular rates, including commissions, bonuses and incentive pay, for hours worked beyond 40 per week, an agency spokesman said.

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REGION

revisits

RITA

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T’bonne still rebuilding 10 years later KARL GOMMEL karl@rushing-media.com Ten years after Hurricane Rita, Terrebonne Parish officials say they are working hard to ensure that future storms are not as devastating.

Sept. 24 marked a decade since Rita made landfall on Louisiana’s coast, causing more than $10 billion in damage across the Gulf Coast. In Terrebonne Parish, the storm flooded more than 10,000 homes.

In observance of the event, local leaders and state officials held a discussion at the Terrebonne Library on Wednesday, Sept. 23. They spoke about the damage Rita caused

in Terrebonne, and the action the parish has taken to boost its storm defenses since then.

Simone Maloz, executive director of Restore or Retreat, a non-profit coastal restoration advocacy group, moderated the discussion. Chip Kline, chairman of the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA), stressed how vital coastal restoration is in the state.

“Hurricane protection and coastal erosion must be one of the most important issues for any official in Louisiana,” Kline said.

Terrebonne Levee and Conservation District Director Reggie Dupre spoke of the parish’s self-reliance re-

garding storm protection. Following the one-two punch of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, Terrebonne expected an influx of federal money to improve hurricane defense. As federal dollars trickled in slowly, Dupre said, the parish learned that it couldn’t wait around.

“The federal government isn’t coming to save you, so you better save yourselves,” Dupre said.

Terrebonne Parish President Michel Claudet mentioned efforts to improve hurricane defense on the micro level, such as non-structural programs. These programs focus on elevating homes in the area to protect property from flood damage.

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According to Claudet, more than 1,000 homes have been raised since 2008.

Peg Case, executive director of the Terrebonne Readiness & Assistance Coalition (TRAC), helped to create the Louisiana Lift House Project, which aims to design sustainable, affordable and elevated homes for low-income bayou residents.

During the panel, Case hoped that the parish would continue to aggressively pursue non-structural hurricane protection. Looking toward the future, she even suggested that some small businesses could be elevated as well.

“Think about elevated living everywhere. Imagine what it would look like,” Case said.

Following the panel, Dupre and others visited the home of Betty Adams on Oleander Street in Chauvin. Adams’s home is the first house built from the Lift House Project.

Case said that low-income families with minimal flood insurance might be overlooked in many programs, as the plan is geared toward keeping homes with pricey insurance plans from repetitive claims. Case sees TRAC’s project as a means to provide protection for those families.

“When we saw that opportunity with elevation dollars, we were just nonstop. We wouldn’t let that go until we got our families what they needed,” Case said.

Dupre then took the convoy to two different floodgates in the southern part of Terrebonne. The Bayou Little Caillou Floodgate connects the eastern and western sides of Terrebonne’s Mogranza-to-the-Gulf levee.

He also went to the Bubba Dove floodgate, and spoke of future plans to protect the parish.

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‘Hurricane protection and coastal erosion must be one of the most important issues for any official in Louisiana.’

CHIP KLINE

Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority chairman

The largest future project is the Houma Navigation Canal Lock, a $350 million lock that will provide additional storm surge protection. The lock will also help to stop saltwater intrusion into wetlands and restore the balance of fresh and saltwater.

Officials say Terrebonne residents have shown they understand the price tag is worth the improved safety.

Residents have voted to raise sales taxes to pay for many of these projects, with the state providing additional money. Kline said the proactive efforts in the bayou stand out in Louisiana.

“This area is unlike any other area in coastal Louisiana. This area does not sit around waiting for the state to implement protection projects,” he said.

KARL GOMMEL | THE TIMES

The Bayou Little Caillou Floodgate connects the eastern and western sides of Terrebonne’s Morganzato-the-Gulf levee system.

The gate cost $20 million to complete.

KARL GOMMEL | THE TIMES

The back of Betty Adams’s elevated house in Chauvin. Adams’s home is the first built by the Louisiana Lift Home Project.

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Legacy Lawsuits

Law changes do little to slow suits, which continue to dog industry KARL GOMMEL karl@rushing-media.com A recent state law aimed at putting an end to a cycle of lawsuits is impacting cleanup efforts on lands affected by oil exploration.

Legacy lawsuits are suits filed by landowners seeking payment for damages to their property from oil and gas exploration. Landowners are allowed to sue oil companies who may have damaged the property decades ago,

after the property in question has transferred hands multiple times.

State Rep. Gordon Dove said that the state legislature passed a law two years ago to rectify this issue. According to Dove, the new law put the Department of Natural Resources in charge of determining a fair cleanup cost.

Dove said that ballooning cleanup costs were an issue before the law was passed.

“So-called expert witnesses were coming in and were

saying a $2 million cleanup was $40 million. So the process was getting stagnated, because these overinflated cleanup figures were coming in,” Dove said.

Don Briggs, president of the Louisiana Oil & Gas Association, says that there are about 300-400 lawsuits currently going through the courts, with more than 3,000 defendants listed in them.

As president of an industry association, he does not differentiate one legacy lawsuit

from another.

“No one case sticks out; they’re all bad,” Briggs said.

Briggs said companies are paying the price for something they could have never foreseen decades ago.

“Companies that bought these properties never thought they would be sued over something that wasn’t illegal then,” he said.

Dove calls the law the biggest environmental cleanup law pertaining to well sites in Louisiana. He says that this law actually forces money awarded in the case to go toward fixing the environment.

“In the past, the moneys would be awarded, and some people would clean it, some may not. They would just pocket the money,” he said.

According to Dove, money awarded in the case goes into two pots. Some personal damages are paid to the landowner filing the suit.

Another pot goes to the Department of Natural Resources to fund the cleanup operation at the site in question. Any money leftover from the cleanup is passed

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Louisiana State Capitol in Baton Rouge on to the landowner.

While the enforced cleanup would prevent any future legacy lawsuits from the well site listed, it does not clear the entire property. Thus, if the same landowner has another well site on his or her property that is damaged, he or she can file a separate suit regarding that well site.

Dove expressed a worry about these lawsuits acting as a “spider web,” which means a landowner lists every previous owner of the property as a defendant in the case. The state representative feels that these owners should figure out who dam-

aged the land before getting everyone involved.

“Here you are, you didn’t do anything wrong, yet you’re pulled in a lawsuit.

Now you have to go get yourself out,” he said.

Dove said an issue with these spider web lawsuits is that they can get small businesses dragged in, harming them in the process. Briggs offered a cynical sum up of the lawsuits.

“It’s really about lawyers making money from fees more than anything,” Briggs said.

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KARL GOMMEL | THE TIMES

Representatives from Marquette Transportation and Cargill celebrate the christening of the Rick Calhoun. The boat will primarily function to ship grain along the Mississippi River.

Y

Gulf Island Fabrication christens the Rick Calhoun KARL GOMMEL karl@rushing-media.com A boat christening in New Orleans last week capped off a year’s worth of work for a local shipbuilding company.

Kentucky-based Marquette Transportation hosted a christening Sept. 20 for its newest boat, the Rick Calhoun. Houma’s own Gulf Island Fabrication built the ship.

The boat was docked near the Hilton Riverside hotel in downtown New Orleans, where partygoers could walk onto the Rick Calhoun and take a tour of the boat.

The 10-person crew was on hand to meet christening invitees and talk about the newest addition to Marquette’s fleet.

Larry Sibley, the captain of the boat, said that the new boat provides the latest safety measures.

“Every time you turn around, there’s just something else that’s a safety feature. Fire alarms, now that are automated, anything that goes over a certain degree, it picks up and goes off.

You’ve got backup steering, backup flanking, you’ve

got all kinds of navigation equipment that’s up-to-date,” he said.

According to specifications provided by Gulf Island, the Rick Calhoun is 180 feet long, with a 48-foot-long beam and a depth of 11.5 feet.

The boat features two 20-cylinder electromotive division (EMD) engines, with each wielding 4,200 horsepower.

Marquette representatives boasted of the job that Gulf Island did. Work on the ship started at Aug. 26, 2014, and finished Aug. 21, 2015. According to Gulf Island sales representative Al Guidry, that fast of a job is unprecedented for the company.

“For that size towboat, yeah, I would say that’s the quickest,” Guidry said.

Marquette CEO John Eck-

stein called Gulf Island “one of the best yards we’ve ever built with.” Eckstein said the year turnover on the project went beyond expectation.

“Well most people thought they would tell us a year and it would be a year and a half.

They told us a year and it was a year,” Eckstein said.

Eckstein called Gulf Island’s work “seamless,” and said the Rick Calhoun has been running for about 30 days with no problems.

Guidry said in this case, no news is good news.

“I think in the past, they may have had some issues with some other yards, mechanical issues and stuff like that. But it’s pretty much what you like to hear. You expect to have little knickknacks, but it’s been rela-

tively quiet, so we’re glad,” Guidry said.

According to Guidry, Gulf Island is finishing two more towboats identical to the Rick Calhoun for Marquette.

One is due to be ready in February 2016, with the last following in August of that year. Guidry said there have been talks with Marquette about continuing their business relationship, but have not made any official agreements yet. The top dog at Marquette is clearly considering more work for Gulf Island as well.

“We’ve got two more boats coming out, and we would definitely look at working with them again,” Eckstein said.

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Energy Policies

Exxon CEO says policies must meet technology advances OPINION FROM EXXON MOBIL Exxon Mobil Corporation Chairman and CEO Rex W. Tillerson cites four policy changes that could stimulate new investment, increase job creation, boost oil and gas production, and provide greater environmental protection.

A technological revolution that has created an era of energy abundance could benefit society even more with the help of 21st century energy policies.

Chairman and CEO Rex W. Tillerson, speaking at the 2015 IHS CERA conference in Houston, said that the energy industry and the United States have reached a turning-point moment in history. At the same time, a “new world” is being created across the transformed energy landscape whose full parameters remain to be determined.

Rex Tillerson, Chairman and CEO ExxonMobil, speaks at the 2015 IHS CERA conference.

“For nearly all of us in the energy sector, these abundant new supplies and the resulting decline in prices have created new pressures that will demand increased discipline and focus,” Tillerson said. “But for consumers and the economy, there have already been significant benefits.

“New supplies of energy have created and supported millions of jobs, led to a renewal of manufacturing

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Rex Tillerson, CEO of Exxon-Mobil, discusses how government and the oil and gas industry need to work together for mutual public benefit.

and increased government revenues – all during a severe recession and through a period of anemic economic growth.”

Tillerson noted that the energy industry has shown just a fraction of what scientific and engineering advances can mean for the safety and progress of society.

“Unfortunately, as much as our investments and technologies are shaping – and will shape – the 21st century, our industry continues to struggle under the weight of

policies that are products of 1970s thinking. This must change.”

Tillerson said that if society is to benefit fully from the technology revolution at this turning- point moment, the United States will need “energy policies worthy of the science and engineering and entrepreneurial daring that have redefined the modern energy landscape.”

He added that optimistic policies are required that reflect the shared aspirations of industry and society for energy and environmental

protection, and that appreciate the power of free markets to create revolutionary innovations.

Further, these policies must proceed with the conviction that a new world is best constructed on free trade and global cooperation.

Tillerson cited four areas where policy changes would ensure that North American technologies and supplies contribute to increased energy security, diversity and flexibility.

“First, we need governments to recognize that our advanced technologies and techniques have been thoroughly proven in some of the most delicate ecosystems and harshest conditions on Earth.”

Tillerson noted that this was one of the implications of the Arctic Research Study, produced by the National Petroleum Council at the request of Dr. Ernest Moniz, secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy.

As chair of this collaborative effort, Tillerson said the study found that U.S. arctic oil and natural gas resources can contribute significantly to enhancing national and global energy security,

and that its potential can be developed using existing technologies.

“The political challenge will be to act on the collaborative and science-based findings of the study and open the U.S. Arctic to field-proven technologies and cutting-edge techniques.”

Second, Tillerson said that the U.S. government should promote free trade in natural gas and crude oil, “as we do for virtually every other good manufactured in the United States.

“Whether we are talking about the export of liquefied natural gas [LNG] or ending the ban on crude oil exports, economists and leaders from across the political spectrum agree that free trade in energy will lead to increased investment, increased job creation and increased energy production.”

Tillerson added that permitting LNG exports would also allow the United States to contribute to further reductions in greenhouse gases and pollution by enabling more nations, especially the dynamic economies of Asia, to turn to cleaner-burning natural gas.

A third policy change is

approval of such critical infrastructure projects as the Keystone XL pipeline.

Tillerson said that the pipeline would do more than deliver oil from Alberta, Canada, and North Dakota’s Bakken Shale to refiners on the U.S. Gulf Coast.

“It would improve U.S. competitiveness, increase North American energy security, and strengthen the relationship with one of our most important allies and trading partners.”

Finally, transparency and certainty are needed in the regulatory process.

“The delays and political machinations that have delayed the Keystone XL pipeline are the poster child for a much deeper problem hindering progress and advancement in this country. Regulatory complexity increasingly burdens companies and investors with expensive delays, onerous reworks, unnecessary duplication, and extended and costly legal wrangling.”

Tillerson added that it is a “fundamental tenet of good government that leaders and policymakers provide a clear and certain pathway to regulatory compliance.”

He concluded by saying that energy policy will increasingly be at the center of public discussions and debate.

“It will be up to the leaders in our industry to tell the extraordinary story of how human ingenuity and innovation can transform the energy sector – and the world – for the better. We have achieved so much in the past decades. But with sound policies, we can enable more investment, which will enable new technologies.

“And with the ability to invest confidently and efficiently, we will find new ways to deliver energy in a way that is safe, secure and reflects our highest ideals for individual opportunity, economic growth and wise stewardship of the environment. In doing so, we can sustain our quality of life and lift millions out of poverty.”

Schlumberger to acquire offshore service firm Cameron STAFF REPORT A long-recognized oilfield giant is acquiring a Texas-based service firm in a stock and cash deal that will result in a merger.

The company being acquired by Schlumberger, Houston-based Cameron, is no dwarf itself.

The deal is estimated at totaling $14.8 billion.

Cameron is a leading provider of flow equipment products, systems and services to worldwide oil and gas industries. The company employs over 24,000 fulltime personnel and operates in more than 300 locations around the world.

Schlumberger is a supplier of technology, integrated project management and information solutions to the global oil and gas industry.

Company materials say it employs approximately 108,000 people representing over 140 nationalities, working in approximately 85 countries, Schlumberger provides the industry’s widest range of products and

services from exploration through production.

Schlumberger Limited, the firm making the Cameron acquisition, has principal offices in Paris, Houston, London and The Hague, and reported revenues of $48.58 billion in 2014.

The transaction combines two complementary technology portfolios into “pore-to-pipeline” products and services offering to the global oil and gas industry.

On a pro forma basis, the combined company had 2014 revenues of $59 billion.

“This agreement with Cameron opens new and broader opportunities for Schlumberger, said the firm’s CEO, Paal Kibsgaard.

“At our investor conference in June 2014, we highlighted how the E&P industry must transform to deliver increased performance at a time of range-bound commodity prices.

“With oil prices now at lower levels, oilfield services companies that deliver innovative technology and greater integration while

improving efficiency, which our customers increasingly demand, will outperform the market.

“We believe that the next industry technical breakthrough will be achieved through integration of Schlumberger’s reservoir and well technologies with Cameron’s leadership in surface, drilling, processing and flow control technologies.

“Deep reservoir knowledge further enabled by instrumentation, software and automation, will launch a new era of complete drilling and production system performance.”

Kibsgaard cited “significant efficiency gains through lowering operating costs, streamlining supply chains, and improving manufacturing processes while leveraging the Schlumberger transformation platform” as other positives.

“We look forward to welcoming the talented employees of Cameron and

SEE ACQUISITION, PAGE C57

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Employees of FORCE industries at ribbon-cutting for the company’s new headquarters in Houma.

Force Industries opens new digs on Freedom Dr.

BY JOHN DESANTIS john@rushing-media.com A Houma oilfield service company’s move to larger local quarters, its owners say, is proof of reason for optimism at a somewhat dismal time for the industry, with petroleum prices still falling and related layoffs still occurring at some companies.

Force Industries sells and installs solar panels and pressure relief valves that are used on offshore platforms.

The company hosted a ribbon-cutting Thursday at their new corporate headquarters on Freedom Drive, at the end of Capital Boulevard.

Glenn Bascle and partner Becky Hebert – founders of the firm – said they are proud of what the company has accomplished and what they believe can be accomplished in the future.

Terrebonne Parish President Michel Claudet is among local officials who say the expansion is good news for the local area.

“They are to be commended for their leadership during these economic times,” Claudet said. “This really demonstrates that even in depressed times there are segments of our

economy that continue to thrive. Additionally, often through conservative management, there are fabulous opportunities for companies that are poised to take advantage of opportunities.

Congratulations to them.”

Bascle and Hebert began working on projects together about 15 years ago. Force was created six years ago.

Offshore platforms require energy to run equipment, heat water and perform other vital functions. Solar panels are now an important part of that power mix.

Force assembles the panels after having them cut to order and installs them on-site in the Gulf.

They also assemble and install relief devices that are used in the production phase of crude, as it travels through various pipes at high pressure.

“We don’t do the welding and grinding and machine work,” Bascle explained. ”We do design the panels and have them fabricated. We also assemble the components, the tubing and instrumentation.”

The company employs a total of 17 people, Bascle said.

“We are expanding and enlarging and growing a little bit and keeping people employed,” he said. “And we are proud of that.”

ACQUISITION: Deal estimated to total $14.8 billion FROM PAGE C56 are pleased that they will be joining the Schlumberger team as our fourth product group,” he said.

Cameron CEO Jack Moore said the transaction builds on an existing partnership that is already successful.

“For our shareholders, this combination provides significant value, while also enabling them to own a meaningful share of Schlumberger,” Moore said of the deal, which includes stock swaps.

“Together, we will create a premier oilfield equipment and service company with an integrated and expanded platform to drive accelerated growth,” he said. “By bringing together Cameron and Schlumberger, we will be uniting two great companies with successful track

records, performance and value creation. We look forward to working closely with Schlumberger to achieve a seamless post-closing integration and long term value for all of our stakeholders.”

The transaction is subject to Cameron shareholders’ approval, regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.

It is anticipated that the closing of the transaction will occur in the first quarter of 2016.

Goldman, Sachs & Co. is acting as financial advisor, and Baker Botts LLP and Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP are serving as legal counsel, to Schlumberger.

Credit Suisse is acting as financial advisor and Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP is serving as legal counsel to Cameron.

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Industry continues to fight coastal erosion

BY CASEY GISCLAIR casey@rushing-media.com When the Deepwater Horizon exploded and oil started spewing up to the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, charter-fishing captains around our area watched in dismay as their 2010 season immediately went into the dumps.

But five-plus years later, captains are back on the water, customers are on the boats during the trips and the fish are biting so that fun can be had for all.

Charter captains around the Gulf South touted their pleasure with the industry’s response and resiliency in dealing with the oil spill this week, rejoicing in the fact that things are back to normal.

The captains said the entire ordeal was scary for all, but it only amounted to being a serious problem during the 2010 summer fishing season, adding that everything has steadily rebounded since then.

“I think what we learned

is that the Gulf of Mexico is more resilient than we thought it was,” Captain Damon McKnight with Super Strike Charters said.

“There’s no doubt a lot of oil came out, but it wasn’t enough to hurt the fishing industry – not as far as we can tell right now. The fish are tough. They’re still out there.”

“It’s going well,” said Captain Bobby Chouest with Bon Chance Fishing after a solid summer season. “The people still want to fish

and the fish are still biting, so we’re not complaining.

We’ve done well.”

Most captains agreed offshore fish were never impacted by the oil spewing from the Gulf of Mexico.

Captains within the field tout that they have caught the same amount of fish as they have in years past – some species in abundance compared to normal. McKnight said that even during cleanup efforts immediately after the spill, anglers would head offshore and

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see fish in the water while traveling in their boats.

“Even during the spill when the oil was still spewing, we couldn’t tell that the fish were being affected at all,” McKnight said.

“Looking back now, I don’t think they were affected.

We couldn’t fish that first summer, but we all helped out and worked with BP, running people around and such. You could still see all of the fish. They didn’t just disappear. As long as we’ve been doing this, the one thing that’s stayed constant is this – the fish are there.

They were never going to just stay there and get doused by oil. They swam to different areas, perhaps, but they were always there.”

Captain Kenny Heikamp with Bent Rod Offshore agrees with McKnight’s statement. He said the fish have been there from the get-go. The captain added that the biggest challenge has been getting people to trust in the water again.

“The people are coming back. We’ve taken plenty calls,” Heikamp said. “That was the biggest battle – perception.”

For McKnight, his summer has already wound down, but he, too, enjoyed a busy time out on the water.

“We [were] booked solid almost every day,” McKnight said. “That’s from June 1 to about Aug. 15 or whenever the kids go back to school.

The people always want to get out and go fish.”

But even while the fish

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Charter fishing recovered after the Deepwater Horizon explosion and subsequent oil spill. But fishermen are now worried about the effects of coastal erosion on the industry.

continue to bite, the charter fishing industry still has an elephant in the room to deal with, and this goliath is indeed directly tied into the oil and gas industry.

One challenge that offshore charter fishermen may face in the future is coastal erosion – a problem that most scientists agree is enhanced by drilling as multiple canals have been cut, which has allowed saltwater from the Gulf of Mexico

to intrude into freshwater marshes. Once the saltwater interacts with the vegetation in the marshes, it kills it slowly, hence the erosion that our state has seen over the past several years.

We’ve all heard the classic statistic that Louisiana loses a football field of land every 38 minutes or so to erosion.

Regardless of the exact timing of it all, our land has slowly faded into the Gulf over time, changing the way

the map of Louisiana looks.

This is also beginning to slowly shape the outlook of the fishing industry as well.

McKnight said Louisiana marshes are home to many small crustacean and small fish that bigger offshore fish feed off of when they are doing their hunting. As the marshes go away, so, too does the food source for the bigger fish that charter fishermen like to catch.

McKnight said charter

fishing hasn’t yet been impacted too greatly by this phenomenon, but he added that it’s coming soon. The captain added that he’s been doing this for 20-plus years, and he’s already seen some marshy areas fade to salt water.

“The fishing is not really being impacted just yet,” McKnight said. “But I think that in the coming years, I’m not sure how many years just yet, over time,

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the coastal erosion will be a problem. All of the marsh area is where our fish feed.

The crabs, the shrimp – all of the food our fish feed on, the marsh is their estuary.

The more marsh we lose, the more food we lose for these fish, as well. They work hand-in-hand. You asked about the oil spill, but to me, this coastal erosion is going to be a much bigger problem.”

As marsh fades away, McKnight said he doesn’t believe charter fishing will be destroyed, he just believes that the whole process will be different. Science shows that fish will follow their food source and will develop their schooling patterns based on where the food is.

If the marshes are gone, the fish will probably swim closer to the shore to keep their stomachs full.

“This is a game changer.

It’s going to change things,” McKnight said. “It’s going to change the areas where we catch fish. It’s going to change areas where the fish go. Will they keep moving further and further inland?

I’d bet so. Fish will follow the bait no matter what.

That’s what they have to do to survive.

“The problem is that this all is happening so, so slowly that you can’t notice it. But over time, it’s all of a sudden going to hit us like a sack of bricks. And by the time it does that, guess what?

I think it’s going to be too late.”

New governor must address Louisiana’s tort reform GUEST COLUMN DON BRIGGS

Louisiana Oil and Gas Association

Political television ads, billboards, yard signs and doorknockers are all indicators of campaign season in Louisiana being in full swing.

On Oct. 24th, voters will pull the lever for his or her candidate that they feel will most represent a set of core beliefs. No matter which gubernatorial candidate is elected, the issue of tort reform must be addressed.

Tort reform cannot be defined by one law or thought pattern.

Tort reform is a coupling of laws and ideas with the intention of reforming the way our civil justice system currently works. The issue of tort reform is one that should have been addressed over the last eight years, but simply was not.

The newly elected governor, whomever that will be, should take this issue as a flagship for his campaign.

Why should a new governor rank this issue so high on his agenda?

The U.S Chamber’s Institute for Legal Reform’s 2015 Lawsuit Climate Survey determines states’ ranking with regards to

the public perception of the state’s lawsuit climate.

Again, Louisiana sits at number 49 out of 50 for having the worst lawsuit climate.

Second, only to West Virginia, Louisiana is again at the bottom of a bad national list.

Because tort reform has not been properly addressed, the legal climate in our state is currently wreaking havoc on the Louisiana oil and gas industry.

‘One candidate is taking money from the legacy trial lawyers while another candidate is standing behind the industry and promoting the need for tort reform.’

Long before the price of oil and natural gas dropped to unprofitable lows, Louisiana was losing companies due to our legal climate.

As was noted at a press conference last year in Baton, around 10 CEOs of large companies stood on the steps of the state capitol to confirm that companies are indeed leaving our state with a direct correlation to the legal climate.

To be specific, over 355 legacy lawsuits have been filed against the Louisiana oil and gas industry alleging environmental SEE BRIGGS, PAGE C24

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BRIGGS: Gubernatorial candidates have choices FROM PAGE C59 damage.

As monetary awards have been given out to landowners and trial lawyers as awards for the alleged damage, no law exists that requires the money be used to mitigate any said damage. A small group of trial lawyers have made it their goal to extort as much money from the oil and gas industry as possible as long as the law allows them to do so.

In addition to legacy suits, two coastal suits have been filed against dozens of oil and gas companies along with a levee board suit that was filed against 96 oil and gas companies for alleged damage.

These gubernatorial candidates have a choice. Stand up for our business community and put an end to this litigious legal climate once elected or take money from these very trial lawyers and turn your back on the very industry that powers our state.

This is exactly what is happening. One candidate is taking money from the legacy trial lawyers while another candidate is standing behind the industry and promoting the need for tort reform.

While many issues need to be addressed to get our state back on the right path, the issue of tort reform should be at the forefront.

The business community is already facing trying times with low commodity prices and a weak performing dollar bill.

The last thing our state needs is more frivolous lawsuits that only line the pockets of a few attorneys and continues to drive out good paying jobs that can stimulate our economy.

• Don Briggs is president of the Louisiana Oil & Gas Association. The Association was organized in 1992 to represent the independent and service sectors of the oil and gas industry in Louisiana.

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DC visit inspiring and discouraging for industry GUEST COLUMN STEPHEN WAGUESPACK

Louisiana Association of Business & Industry

Last week, more than 20 members of the LABI Board of Directors traveled to Capitol Hill to meet with our Congressional delegation, as well as with policy and political experts from groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, the Tax Foundation and the Heritage Foundation.

This was our second annual D.C. Flyin, a new initiative we started at LABI to respond to the growing concerns our members have with the escalating, intrusive regulatory approach of the federal government.

The members of our Congressional delegation were gracious with their time and attention and generally seem to share our collective frustration with many of the actions being taken by the executive branch.

It was a very productive visit, despite the fact that D.C. is now recognized more for what it cannot accomplish rather than for the greatness it is capable of achieving.

Traditional and new media are filled each and every day with the angst, political divide and cyclical debates that seem to dominate our modern-day government, leaving us all discouraged and disillusioned that change will not happen anytime soon.

While true, that sense of disappointment stands in stark contrast to the feeling one gets driving around D.C. Take a visit to the Lincoln Memorial or Jefferson Memorial, and it is easy to be reminded of the greatness of this country and the strong leadership with which we once were blessed that helped us become the model for the rest of the world. Stroll by the Korean Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial or the Memorials for WWI and WWII and you are driven to pause out of respect for the great sacrifices made by countless fellow Americans to keep us safe.

Walk through the hallways of the U.S. Capitol as you enter the great Rotunda, whose walls are dominated by paintings that tell the story of some of the most critical moments in our nation’s earliest years – the moments that set us on the course to greatness that we still pursue today.

For all its warts and frustrations, Washington D.C. remains one of the most inspiring places on earth because it is so effective at reminding us what we once were, reiterating to us how lucky we are to live in America and reinforcing to us that we can continue to be a beacon for liberty and freedom if we put our mind and efforts to making that a reality.

The city’s very buildings and streets tell a compelling story of a great nation and how it came to be, even if the federal government currently occupying that zip code doesn’t always live up to that strong national legacy.

For this reason, it is critical that Americans periodically travel to Washington D.C. to be inspired and remind our elected officials of the issues most important to us folks back home.

For LABI, we visited with our Congressional delegation on many issues, including the following:

Regulatory reform One of the primary obstacles to growth identified by LABI member companies are ever-increasing governmental mandates and regulations – many at the federal level.

The implementation of the Affordable Care Act, the proposed water and energy rules of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the draft Department of Labor rule to re-define overtime are just a few examples of the costly burden imposed on job creators across the country with little regard to the impact.

LABI believes that federal regulations must be narrowly tailored and supported by strong and credible data. The Regulatory Accountability Act of 2015 is now pending in the U.S. Senate after passage in the House on a vote of 250-175 earlier this year.

LABI supports the legislation, which will modernize the rule-making process to increase public participation and require agencies to choose the least costly option that still protects the public.

A long-term re-authorization of federal transportation funding With economic growth, Louisiana’s infrastructure needs are more urgent than ever, but state and federal funding remains insufficient. In July 2015, Congress approved $8 billion for the nation’s Highway Trust Fund to fund projects through Oct. 29.

The stop-gap measure was passed one day before expiration of the country’s road spending legislation. The U.S. Highway Trust Fund is sustained by the 18.4 cents per gallon federal gas tax, but revenues are not able to cover expenditures in recent years, forcing Congress to use general revenue to cover transportation spending.

These funds too have been exhausted, and Congress faces a looming crisis.

LABI urges the Louisiana delegation to work toward a sustainable solution to highway funding.

Free trade and Trade Promotion Authority Many factors have contributed to Louisiana’s impressive economic growth, but perhaps chief among them is the state’s robust export economy. The state ranked #1 in export growth and intensity just last year.

Trade agreements between the U.S. and foreign countries are necessary in order to lower legal hurdles, get rid of tariffs, open up new markets for Louisiana exports, and lower the cost of raw imported goods for our manufacturers.

LABI supported the passage of the Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015 to grant Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), also known as “fast-track authority” for the administration to negotiate free trade agreements. Congress passed TPA in June, and LABI urges Congressional support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) should a favorable agreement be negotiated.

Opposition to EPA over-regulation The EPA is proposing sweeping new regulations on ozone levels, carbon, and water that would have a devastating effect on Louisiana’s economy.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the agency in June because the EPA failed to undertake a cost-benefit analysis in deciding whether to set limits on emissions from power plants, sending the agency back to the drawing board to revise the rule. Meanwhile, a federal judge enjoined the proposed Waters of the U.S. rule in August, which expands the EPA’s jurisdiction and federal enforcement action over ditches, tributaries, and small waterways.

However, within days of the court’s injunction, the agency put the regulations into effect anyway in most states, including Louisiana.

In addition to fighting the Waters of the U.S. rule, LABI is actively opposing the proposal to change the bar on National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), which is defined by sum as the costliest regulation ever issued by the federal government.

In sum, the EPA wants to lower the standard from 75 parts per billion, which areas of Louisiana only recently complied with, to as low as 65. LABI worked with the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) to produce an economic impact study in 2014, which shows the new ozone requirement alone could cost Louisiana $43 billion to comply, resulting in more than 30,000 lost jobs and $11 billion in lost Gross State Product between 2017 and 2040. LABI urges Congress to take action to rein in the EPA’s aggressive campaign.

Repeal of the Affordable Care Act LABI opposed the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2010.

The vast mandates, new taxes on businesses, controversial and complex regulations, and entitlement expansion are unprecedented.

LABI has historically opposed new and expanded mandatory benefits under employer health plans.

Instead, LABI supports market-driven insurance, the rights of employers and employees to choose their own health plans, technology and innovation in health care delivery, and federal legislation to reduce frivolous lawsuits. LABI urges Congress to block implementation where possible and stop or delay key provisions from going into effect.

For example, a new study by the Kaiser SEE WAGUESPACK, PAGE C61

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Cancelling card doesn’t erase your credit history DAVE SAYS

DAVE RAMSEY Financial Guru

Dear Dave, I recently tried to cancel a credit card, and the customer service representative told me that doing this would cancel out my entire 14-year credit history. Is this true?

– Karl Dear Karl, No, it is not true. The rep you spoke with is either a moron or a liar.

Canceling a credit card doesn’t erase a

person’s entire credit history, and it doesn’t erase their credit history with that company or their card, either.

And by the way, your credit history doesn’t last 14 years. It lasts seven years, but all the information on your record that is older than that – except for Chapter 7 bankruptcy – comes off your credit bureau report. A Chapter 7 filing stays on your report for 10 years.

So, you don’t have a 14-year credit history.

Sorry, it’s just not there. And if you talk to this company again, you really need to find an educated rep to speak with. This one doesn’t have a clue!

– Dave

Simply Prepare Dear Dave, With all the economic problems in the

WAGUESPACK: Washington, D.C., worth a visit FROM PAGE C61 Family Foundation estimates that one in four employers offering health benefits could be subject to the ACA’s 40 percent tax on high-cost health plans in 2018 unless they reduce or modify employee benefits.

ACA is pushing costs higher and higher on employers and individuals alike, and LABI urges Congress to pass the Middle Class Health Benefits Tax Repeal Act of 2015 and repeal this 40 percent tax as a start.

The endless debates and dysfunctional efforts that dominate Washington D.C. can

be annoying and frustrating to us all, but it is important to not lose faith in our government. Complaining to your friends or venting to your computer screen about the approach taken by our federal government won’t change a thing.

If you can swing it, go to D.C. every now and then. Get educated on the issues and get to know your leaders. Take the time to visit them and share your concerns, while asking them to explain theirs. While you’re there, take a stroll around your nation’s capitol if you want to be reminded why we live in a country worth fighting for.

Industry should open up BAYOUSIDE

JOHN DeSANTIS

Senior Staff Writer

As just about any reporter who has ever worked for a daily or weekly newspaper in these parts will tell you, the oil and gas industry and those who service it are notoriously difficult to cover.

It’s not just an issue when there is bad news. Events like the tragic 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill tend to develop their own rhythm on the news coverage end. Disaster makes its own news cycle and protocols; Once the fact that a disaster has occurred is recognized, pre-planned protocols for information distribution tend to kick in, at either the industry or government sectors.

As the DWH spill made clear, the information is not always accurate, at least initially.

But the more the oil flows the more the information does too, even if not in a commensurate manner.

Rather, it is the run-of-the-mill kind of story, sometimes one intended to highlight and publicize a particular company’s achievements or positive practices, that can become problematic.

Executives take a long time to return calls, when they do they are often short on information and long on excuses as to why they can’t share it, and because of this a lot of articles that could be of interest to a lot of

people don’t see the light of day.

Simply put, a lot of companies that operate locally appear to have no protocol in place for responding to run-of-the-mill media interest in what they do.

I personally refer to the cone of silence around many oilfield service companies as “oilfield omerta.”

This is a shame, because a lot of local companies are doing a lot of positive things to make the oil and gas industry safer, to either prevent problems or or effectively cope with them when they do occur.

A lot of the information just doesn’t get out there.

There is evinced from some a perception that they are not answerable to the community at large, that they don’t need to share information about their operations, and that being unskilled in handling media inquiries, the best thing to do is make like a turtle and keep the talking head inside the shell.

These words are not intended to be self-serving. Rather they are part of an entreaty made on behalf of the reading public, who ultimately lose when there is a dearth of information about an industry that so many, in so many ways, depend upon.

Unlike government entities, private companies don’t generally have any requirements to share information about their operations with the outside world. But attempts to do so responsibly, without giving up trade secrets or betraying the confidence of clients, are to be respected and encouraged.

The current economic downturn in the oil service industry has given rise at various points to various rumors. Rumors are the SEE BAYOUSIDE, PAGE C62

country today, what can college students do to avoid money problems in the future?

– Eric Dear Eric, There are always three or four smart things you can do to protect yourself financially.

One is to live on a budget. When you give every dollar you make a name, and write down on paper, it helps you know what your money is doing instead of wondering where it went.

Two more good ideas are staying out of debt, and saving as much money as possible.

Your money is your biggest wealth-building tool, and when you’re saddled with debt, your money goes to creditors instead of into your pocket.

Saving money is what prepares you for the good and bad things life throws at you – whether it’s putting money aside to buy a

car, a house or handling unexpected things that always happen.

Another thing is investing. I know you’re young, but a little bit invested now could make you a millionaire when you’re ready to retire.

These are all simple things, Eric. But they’ll make a huge difference in your financial situation now and in the years to come!

– Dave

• Dave Ramsey is America’s trusted voice on money and business. He has authored five New York Times best-selling books. The Dave Ramsey Show is heard by more than 8.5 million listeners each week on more than 550 radio stations.

Dave’s latest project, EveryDollar, provides a free online budget tool.

Follow Dave on Twitter at @DaveRamsey and on the web at daveramsey.com.

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PERMITS • No. 41997406K, 8/31/2015, Beeson Enterprises of South Louisiana LLC, 601 Pendleton Dr., Houma, La., 70360; agent, Incorp Services Inc., 3867 Plaza Tower Dr., Baton Rouge, La., 70816; member/manager, Thomas Beeson, 601 Pendleton Dr., Houma, La., 70360; member/manager, Jennifer Beeson, 601 Pendleton Dr., Houma, La., 70360.

• No. 41998275, 9/3/2015, GHI LLC, 1456 Bayou Blue Rd., Houma, La., 70364; agent and member/manager, Keith Barker, 1456 Bayou Blue Rd., Houma, La., 70364.

• No. 41998401K, 8/31/2015, C&J Trucking Enterprise LLC, 100 Anna St., Donaldsonville, La., 70346; agent and member/manager, Rogers L. Comery, Sr., 100 Anna St., Donaldsonville, La., 70346.

• No. 41998622K, 9/1/2015, Dirty Red Outfitters LLC, 217 E. 87th St., Cut Off, La., 70345; agent and member/manager, Patrick Juban, 217 E. 87th St., Cut Off, La., 70345.

• No. 41998752K, 9/1/2015, Chau-Babi CCL, 400 Lafayette, St., Houma, La., 70360; agent, Stanwood Duval, 101 Wilson Ave., Houma, La., 70364; member/manager, B&T Leasing Inc., 400 Lafayette St., Houma, La., 70360.

• No. 42000332K, 9/1/2015, TNT Contracting LLC, 7046 Park Ave., Houma, La., 70364; agent, United States Corporation Agents Inc., 1100 Poydras St., New Orleans, La., 70163; member/manager, Timothy J. McNabb, 7046 Park Ave., Houma, La., 70364.

• No. 42000612N, 9/3/2015, Field Day Fund, 115 Texas St.,

Raceland, La., 70394; agent, Mike Hebert, 115 Texas St., Raceland, La., 70394; officer, Tom Ellender, 2721 Hwy. 308, Raceland, La., 70394.

• No. 42000799K, 9/1/2015, Maritime Solutions LLC, 202 Buena Vista Blvd., Houma, La., 70360; agent and member/ manager, Larry Victor Straatmann II, 202 Buena Vista Blvd., Houma., La., 70360.

• No. 42000909K, 9/3/2015, BP Construction & Metal Building Construction LLC, 173 Tyler Christian Dr., Houma, La., 70360; agent and member/ manager, Bennett Porche, Sr., 173 Tyler Christian Dr., Houma, La., 70360; member/manager, Bryan Porche, 3814 Southdown Mandalay Rd., Houma, la., 70360.

• 42002873K, 9/1/2015, Funderburk Family Mineral Interests LLC, 9 Amarillo Dr., Houma, La., 70360; agent and member/manager, James M. Funderburk, 9 Amarillo Dr., Houma, La., 70360.

• No. 42002946K, 9/1/2015, Envy Boutique of Houma LLC, 1795B Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, Houma, La., 70360; agent and member/manager, Sara Price Rhodes, 1795B Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Houma, La., 70360; member/ manager, Dawn Ann Baker, 1795B Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Houma, La., 70360.

• No. 42003267K, 9/5/2015, MDLC Interpreting LLC, 632 Belmere Luxury Court, Houma, La., 70360; agent and member/manager, Mariana de la Cruz, 632 Belmere Luxury Court, Houma, La., 70360.

• 42009485K, 9/8/2015, Off-Duty Lawnscape Services LLC, c/o Jake P. Allemand, 225 Central Lafourche Dr., Raceland, La. 70394; agent and member/manager, Jake P. Allemand.

• 42008418K, 9/8/2015, Hot Off The Press Creations LLC, c/o Tiffany B. Chaisson, 413 Saint Anthony St., Raceland, La. 70394; agents and members/managers, Tiffany B. and Shannon Chaisson.

• 41938542K, 9/8/2015, C and J Woodworking LLC, c/o Charles J. Guidry 167 West 132nd Street, Cut Off, La., 70345; agents and members/ managers, Joan M. and Charles J. Guidry.

• 42005301K, 9/8/2015, Prep Paks LLC, 171 Olivia Drive, Thibodaux, La., 70301; agent and member/manager, Darren Thibodaux, 171 Olivia Drive, Thibodaux, La., 70301.

• 42006295K, 9/9/2015, NA3 Properties LLC, 187 Laverne Dr., Thibodaux, La., 70301; agent and member/manager, Nicolino Alfonso III, 187 Laverne Dr., Thibodaux, La., 70301.

• 42006398K, 9/9/2015, Jal Enterprise LLC, 368 California St., Thibodaux, La., 70301; agent and member/manager, Jermon Lofton, 368 California St. Thibodaux, La., 70301.

• 42006790K, 9/9/2015, Prefam LLC, 1421 Chatdworth

Dr., Morgan City, La., 70380; agent, United States Corporation Agents Inc., 1100 Poydras St., Ste. 2900, New Orleans, La., 70163; member/manager, Tammy Lynn Prevost, 1421 Chatdworth Dr., Morgan City, La. 70380.

• 42006823K, 9/9/2015, Diamond Pipeline Maintenance LLC, 4406 Hwy 56 Chauvin, La., 70344; agent and member/manager, Ellen Cavalier, 4406 Hwy 56, Chauvin, La., 70344; member/manager, Earl Cavalier, 4406 Hwy 56, Chauvin, La., 70344; member/ manager, Richard St. Pierre, 4117 Bayouside Drive, Houma, La., 70363; member/manager, Melissa Pinell, 4117 Bayouside Drive, Houma, La., 70363.

• 42003892K, 9/10/2015, Fryou Boys Hunting Club LLC, 2679 Sixth St., Berwick, La., 70342; agent and member/ manager, Dominick Fryou, 2679 Sixth St., Berwick, La., 70342.

• 42005575K, 9/10/2015, Panacea Pantry LLC, 238 West 45th St., Cut Off, La., 70345; agent and member/manager, Susan Mayet, 238 West 45th St., Cut Off, La., 70345.

• 42007248K, 9/10/2015, Just 4 Him Brusly LLC, 1123 St. Vincent Rd., Napoleonville, La., 70390; agent and member/manager, Dean Rivere, 1123 St. Vincent Rd., Napoleonville, La., 70390.

• 42007515K, 9/10/2015, Alliance Industry Holdings LLC, P.O. Box 999, Larose, La., 70373; agent, Eric Trosclair, 11095 Highway 308, Larose, La., 70373; member/manager, Stephen Williams, 11095 Highway 308, Larose, La., 70373.

• 42007552K, 9/10/2015, A.D. Foster, Attorney At Law • 42010390K, 9/11/2015, Kbak LLC, 5521 W. Park Ave., Houma, La., 70364; agent and member/manager, Julianna Mary Dupre, 819 Cottagemill Lane, Houma, La., 70363.

• 41966975K, 8/27/2015, Weimer Family Farm, LLC, 2100 Hwy. 1, Raceland, La, 70394; agent and member/ manager, Brad L. Weimer, 2100 Hwy. 1, Raceland, La., 70394; agent and member/ manager, Cathy E. Weimer, 2100 Hwy 1, Raceland, La., 70394.

• 41976184K, 8/27/2015, Outdoor Image & Design LLC, 406 Forest Blvd., Houma, La., 70360; agent and member/ manager, Cynthia K Braneff, 406 Forest Blvd., Houma, La., 70360; agent and member/ manager, Chad P. Blanchard,

STOCKS OF LOCAL INTEREST Exchange

AARONS INC ANADARKO PETE AT&T BAKER HUGHES INC BP PLC ADR BRISTOW GROUP CAP ONE FINAN CHEVRON CONOCOPHILLIPS DEERE & CO ENTERGY CP ENSCO PLC EXXON MOBIL GULF ISLAND HALLIBURTON CO HANCOCK HLD IBERIABANK CRP JP MORGAN CHASE LAMAR ADVERTS A MCDERMOTT INTL MCDONALDS CORP MIDSOUTH BANCORP INC NORTHROP GRUMMAN NTL OILWELL VACR OCEANEERING INTL PHI REGIONS FINANCL ROYAL DUTCH SH A SAIA SCHLUMBERGER LTD SEACOR HOLDINGS SUPERIOR ENTERGY SRVS TIDEWATER INC TRANSOCEAN LTD WEATHERFORD INTL WILLIAMS COMPS

AAN APC T BHI BP BRS COF CVX COP DE ETR ESV XOM GIFI HAL HBHC IBKC JPM LAMR MDR MCD MSL NOC NOV OII PHII RF RDSA SAIA SLB CKH SPN TDW RIG WFT WMB

Values represent closing price on date indicated.

This is for informational purposes only and should not be considered a recommendation to purchase, sell, or hold any particular security.

NYSE NYSE NYSE NYSE NYSE NYSE NYSE NYSE NYSE NYSE NYSE NYSE NYSE NASD NYSE NASD NYSE NYSE NASD NYSE NYSE NYSE NYSE NYSE NYSE NASD NYSE NYSE NYSE NYSE NYSE NYSE NYSE NYSE NYSE NYSE

9/16

38.99 69.14 32.93 55.66 32.13 30.70 77.26 79.08 49.47 81.34 63.91 17.12 74.28 12.15 38.64 28.26 61.57 64.11 53.80 5.02 98.69 12.90 170.85 29.99 42.57 29.00 9.56 51.70 36.42 76.17 63.22 15.09 17.15 15.80 10.75 45.84

9/23 CHANGE

37.58 63.19 32.19 54.02 29.92 28.38 73.45 76.17 47.86 77.69 66.35 14.64 72.29 11.48 37.33 26.90 58.22 60.63 53.73 4.77 97.39 12.20 167.45 37.07 39.96 24.72 8.95 47.33 32.35 71.95 60.71 13.69 13.86 13.65 8.87 42.48

-1.41 -5.95 -.74 -1.64 -2.21 -2.32 -3.81 -2.91 -1.61 -3.65 2.44 -248 -1.99 -.67 -1.31 -1.36 -3.35 -3.48 -.07 -.25 -1.30 -.70 -3.40 -2.92 -2.61 -4.28 -.61 -4.37 -4.07 -4.22 -2.51 -1.40 -3.29 -2.15 -1.88 -3.36

Exchange Key: NYSE — New York Stock Exchange NASD — NASDAQ Stock Exchange AMER — American Stock Exchange

Information provided by Edward Jones — Matt Lirette Financial Advisor 609 Barrow St., Houma, LA 70360 — 985-863-7134 — www.edwardjones.com MEMBER SIPC

406 Forest Blvd., Houma, La., 70360.

• 41987146K, 8/24/2015, Annie M. LaJaunie MS, CCCSLP, LLC, 402 Chantilly Dr., Houma, La., 70360; agent and member/manager, Annie LaJaunie, 402 Chantilly Dr., Houma, La., 70360.

• 41987944D, 8/27/2015, Hamilton & Berry, Inc., 412 Ardoyne Dr., Houma, La., 70360; agent, C. Berwick Duval II, 101 Wilson Ave., Houma, La., 70360; officer, Thomas Walter Berry, 412 Ardoyne Dr., Houma, La., 70360; officer, Robert John Hamilton, 104 Norwich Lane, Houma, La. • 41988322K, 8/25/2015, The Splendid Source LLC, PO Box 2864, Houma, La., 70361; agent and member/manager, Delilah Jones, 439 Authement

St., Houma, La., 70363.

• 41988410K, 8/25/2015, 3G2B LLC, 2378 Gautreau Rd., Donaldsonville, La., 70346; agent and member/manager, Claude P. Gautreau, 2378 Gautreau Rd., Donaldsonville, La., 70346; member/manager, Maurice A. Gautreau, Jr., 2388 Gautreau Rd., Donaldsonville, La., 70346; member/manager, Monique A. Gautreau, 2349 Gautreau Rd., Donaldsonville, La., 70346; member/manager, Jeffrey S. Blanchard, 180 Latino St., Donaldsonville, La., 70346; member/manager, Karen Blanchard, 5331 Hwy 1, Napoleonville, La., 70390.

No. 41989037K, 8/23/2015, Nicholas J. Rau, MD, LLC, 5063 Bridgeport Way, Houma, La., 70360; 5063 Bridgeport Way, Houma, La., 70360.

BAYOUSIDE: Industry should share its message FROM PAGE C61 enemy of fact, and an impediment to smooth operation within and without an industry.

In defense of the industry, it should be noted that companies experience frustra-

tion when their latest ribbon cutting or an announcement they feel is newsworthy doesn’t get news coverage.

Newspapers are dealing with their own economic realities at present, as well as challenging issues regarding space for placement

of various types of stories.

The reporter calling you for assistance or comment is usually someone who has had nothing to do with decisions about what goes where.

And then there is the matter of trust.

Nobody wants to talk about important things relating to their business with someone with the ability to cause – even inadvertently – public embarrassment on a very large scale, unless they really have to.

There is a cure for this.

Adopt a reporter, sort of.

Look for someone whose work in a local paper, like this one, you respect or at least tolerate well.

Stay in touch, even if there is nothing much newsworthy going on, or accept their invitation to do so.

It will make communication when the chips are down or if the idea of a profile on your company comes up easier to deal with, likely with better overall results.

None of this will necessarily result in more money for the company coffers. But it could help build better understanding of where your firm fits in, or what it’s trying to deal with.

Just because we don’t have to do something doesn’t mean we shouldn’t.

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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2015

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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2015

THE

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