Port Fourchon trying to get back to pre-BP levels

It’s just a speck on a map, no more than a mere grain of dust that looks like it’s been flicked onto Louisiana’s southern coast.

Dig deeper into Port Fourchon and you’ll see an economic engine that drives both Louisiana’s and the nation’s economy.

In one of the port’s most difficult stretches due to the BP oil spill and a subsequent drilling moratorium and recovery process, Fourchon’s Executive Director Chett Chiasson said the port stumbled initially, but has begun to rebound in recent months.

That recent rally has everyone believing 2012 might be a year of further growth from within the port.

“It’s gotten better somewhat over the last couple of months,” he said. “But we’re nowhere near where it should be right now.”

Chiasson said the port is currently operating at 60 to 65 percent of its pre-oil spill business levels.

Those numbers increased from the below 50 percent marks that the port saw during the meat of the post oil spill drilling moratorium.

“It’s a small victory, but it’s still better than what it was,” he said.

The reason for the halt isn’t because of hesitancy from within the industry, people still want to drill.

Chiasson said the halt is from within the government and its reluctance to issue permits to companies trying to extract oil from the Gulf of Mexico’s resource-rich floor.

The port’s executive director said he’s assisted the Gulf Economic Survival Team’s efforts to prove that the Gulf Coast is able to consistently drill safe.

From that, Chiasson has also put together a group of south Lafourche businessmen to reinforce the Tri-parish area’s point to those issuing the permits.

“We need to bridge the gap between the industry and the regulators to get permits issued,” he said. “It’s not necessarily hurting the big drilling companies and the big oil companies. You can really drill it down to this is hurting local mom and pop shops, the ones who service the industry.

“And that all trickles down to less tax revenue for our communities, which hurts everyone. It goes down the line and it branches out. We’ve been going to Washington, D.C., and we’ve been meeting with everyone willing to listen to us about those issues. … It needs to be better.”

The reason Chiasson said he believes the government doesn’t swiftly get the industry back on the upswing is because of a misunderstanding nationally about Fourchon’s importance to the oil-and-gas industry.

Port Fourchon services 18 percent of the nation’s oil supply. It produces thousands of jobs in a struggling economy and feeds hundreds of thousands of Americans.

“I think more people know about us now, but not nearly enough,” Chiasson said. “Not enough people understand the huge impact that we, this little speck on a map, have in this country’s energy stability.

“We have a jobs problem and we have a revenue problem in this country right now. Everyone knows that. The oil and gas industry isn’t the end-all, be-all in fixing that, but it can help. It can assist.”

Numbers are slowly increasing and Chiasson believes the government may finally be hearing Louisiana’s collective whispers.

“You don’t see results right away,” he said. “But with all of the meetings taking place and all of the people that support the industry and know that we can do this safely and provide the energy that this country desperately needs, we know that this can happen and we know that we can move forward.”

Even through tough times, Chiasson said not all was bad for the port in the past calendar year.

Fourchon was able to keep most of its tenants throughout the oil spill by reducing land rental rates to enhance port business.

“We’ve actually been able to increase tenant numbers even through the adversity we’ve had,” Chiasson said.

The executive director added that Fourchon has attracted new investments and is currently looking to expand.

One of those expansions is within the South Lafourche Airport.

The Federal Aviation Administration granted $4.3 million to the port to complete a full parallel taxiway at the airport, marking one of the single largest grants ever given to a general aviation airport in Louisiana.

The money will extend the airport’s taxiway from 2,500 to 6,500 feet, which will increase safety, decrease wheel load on the runway, and lessen the wear and tear on aircraft coming into the airport.

“We’re proud of the fact that we’ve been able to continue our expansion,” Chiasson said. “Even though tough times, we’re growing and there’s something to be said about that.”

Growing in the face of natural disaster and adversity, that’s the Fourchon way.

They’ll keep rebounding.

They might just be a little speck on the map, but they continue to run strong providing energy for our country.

“Things in the next year are projected to be better,” Chiasson said. “On the gradual, slow incline. We’re pleased with that.

“As long as we’re still growing and getting back up to where we were before the spill, that’s positive.”