Front Page || Main Index || Corpus Christi News || Business || Texas || Sports || Entertainment || Selena
Tuesday, Sep. 29, 1998
Bay Ltd. facilities weather Hurricane Georges
`We dodged a bullet' in Louisiana, company exec says
By GLASTON FORD
Staff WriterBay Ltd.'s facilities in Louisiana appear to have been spared any serious damage from Hurricane Georges, according to Bay officials.
The company, which assembles oil and gas process modules and performs contract work on offshore platforms, had to prepare for the worst at facilities and offices in New Orleans, New Iberia and Morgan City, La., said Ken Luhan, president of Bay Ltd., a Berry company.
``Those facilities all have to take maximum precautions,'' Luhan said. ``As it turns out, we dodged a bullet.''
Other Bay crews stationed in the Gulf of Mexico stopped working on offshore platforms as soon as Georges entered the Gulf, Luhan said.
The exodus from offshore platforms, which began in the middle of last week and concluded Saturday, marked the fourth such evacuation in as many weeks. In Georges' case, the industry took quick notice and prepared early.
Larry Huff, a Venice-based pilot with Air Logistics, said an orderly evacuation occurred.
Huff said the early September arrival of Hurricane Earl was completely different. The industry was caught off guard by the sudden strength and movement of the storm and needed additional helicopters to pick up crews from rigs and platforms who would normally have been left to boats.
Companies do not yet know the extent of the damage to the oil and gas platforms, Luhan said.
Bay does not expect any of the platforms on which Bay crews work near the mouth of the Mississippi to have suffered any damage, he said.
The most damage, if any, probably occurred on platforms around Mobile Bay.
As of Monday, workers could not get to the offices of Bay Offshore Ltd. in New Orleans, the hub of the offshore oil and gas industry in the Gulf of Mexico, because of traffic restrictions.
``The communication and transportation has all but shut down in the business center outside of New Orleans,'' Luhan said. ``It may take several days before you resume normal communications.''
It may take just as long before Bay's clients have a clear assessment of the damage to their platforms, he said.
During the storm Bay loses some revenue from the lost work time, Luhan said. Bay, which does a lot of repairs on the platforms, often gains additional repair work after a storm.
The fabrication yard, shop and dock facilities in Morgan City and New Iberia should reopen today, as should the Bay Offshore-Mosby Group in the West Bank industrial region in New Orleans, company officials said.
Bay officials had worried that Georges would threaten work underway in the Netherlands Antilles on the tension-leg-platform Ursa that is being performed by crews of Bay Cyprus Ltd., a wholly owned foreign operating company of Bay Ltd., Luhan said.
Crews are installing piping and mechanical components and integrating process modules on Ursa in the deepwater harbor of Curacao, he said. The work is being performed with the aid of a specialized, barge-mounted crane capable of lifting 10,000 tons, he said.
``We have been able to work continuously on that project,'' Luhan said. The only difficulty has been flying crews from New Orleans to Miami to Curacao for crew rotations, he said.
Petroleum companies are not happy with the erratic weather in the Gulf. While companies would not provide specific estimates, the procedures cost them big money each time.
Combined with the evacuation procedures and lost production time, Shell spokesman Billy Vehnekamp said his company loses at least ``a few million'' dollars with each evacuation. Texaco confirmed similar loses.
Several companies, including Shell, Texaco and Amoco, continued production on some platforms into the weekend via remote control from their bases in New Orleans and Houston. But that process ceases when winds build near platforms.
Some industry analysts say the recent storms are partially behind the rally in oil and natural gas prices over recent weeks. Traders who set the commodity prices react to the storms, perhaps more than they should, said Tom Marsh, managing editor of Offshore Data Services, which publishes several trade magazines.
``It's perception. It has very little to do with actual supply and demand,'' he said.
Staff writer Glaston Ford can be reached at 886-3678 or by e-mail at fordg@scripps.com; The Associated Press contributed to this report.Post your comments about local news eventsFront Page || Main Index || News || Business || Texas || South Texas Outdoors || Birdwatching || Sports || Entertainment || Selena || Education || South Texas Attractions || World Wide Web