-

Written by Claire Taylor

The Louisiana Gulf Coast Oil Exposition kicked off Tuesday October 25, 2011 with millions of dollars in equipment on display and for sale.

More than a year after the BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, the offshore oil and gas industry continues to suffer under the weight of new federal regulations that have slowed permitting to a trickle and are driving big companies overseas.

That’s what some industry representatives had to say Tuesday at the Cajundome and Convention Center, where hundreds gathered for the opening day of the Louisiana Gulf Coast Oil Exposition (LAGCOE), the first held since the BP disaster in 2010.

“Too many rules and regulations,” said Mark Knight, president of Knight Oil Tools of Lafayette.

The federal government expects companies to absorb the added costs that came with new industry standards imposed after the BP spill. But companies can’t recoup those funds by raising rates at the gas pump, he said.

Companies considering drilling in the Gulf of Mexico look at it as a $20 million penalty because of the additional costs of complying with the new federal regulations, Knight said. The major companies may be able to absorb the added costs. The independent companies cannot, he said.

“We need the independents. They move faster,” Knight said. “The only way to get away from our dependence on foreign oil is to drill here.”

In 2008, 100 percent of the work Clariant Oil Services had in this region was offshore, company representative Kevin Lange said. Today, approximately 60 percent of the company’s work in the area is on land.

“We need to put the focus back on drilling in the Gulf,” he said.

The slow-down of permitting for drilling in the Gulf has a trickle-down effect that reaches beyond the industry into community businesses like dry cleaners and grocery stores, said David Shilling, who is in sales, for InterMoor of Morgan City.

“Business is way down in the Gulf of Mexico since the (Deepwater) Horizon disaster,” he said.

Before, there were 29 moored rigs in the Gulf, Shilling said. Now there are only six. His company alone moved two rigs out of the Gulf to different locations overseas.

“Once they go overseas, they’re not coming back,” he said. The companies sign three-year contracts.

Others attending LAGCOE said business is either maintaining or picking up a little since the BP spill. Some of that business comes from the land-based shale drilling in North Louisiana and Texas.

At St. Martin Oil, a St. Martinville company that markets Chevron products and gasoline across South Louisiana, when the drilling business slows down, so does their business, Jimmy Poirier said.

“When things dried up “» we saw a change with it,” he said.

But business is picking up, in part because of the shale finds.

The Eagle Ford Shale natural gas find in South Texas appears to be the next big boom for the industry, Corbet Soirez, account manager with DMC Carter Chambers in Lafayette said.

“The phones have been ringing off the hook since June,” he said.

Soirez believes it’s because companies grew tired of the post-BP disaster politics and decided to start working again.

“When you’ve got contracts, you’ve got to fill them,” he said.

Darin Ledet of Morgan City Rentals said the company has been staying busy.

While it still takes months for the federal government to issue a drilling permit for the Gulf, the industry appears to be doing better than a year ago, Chuck Sawyer of Cochrane Technologies of Lafayette, said. Last winter, the industry was still completely stymied by the moratorium that followed the BP disaster and the weather was harsh.

“We’re keeping our fingers crossed for December and January,” he said.

At LAGCOE, the second-largest oil and gas trade show in the nation, new and long-standing businesses from Louisiana and Texas showed off technology and products, from pumps, valves, gauges and navigational lights to uniforms and gloves.

Some were competing for business, but they all wanted one thing: to get back to the business of drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, Knight said.

“That’s what we’re here to do.”

Original Article

-

Written by Claire Taylor

For the 28th time, oil and gas industry representatives will gather in Lafayette to share information, introduce new technology and network during the Louisiana Gulf Coast Oil Exposition.

The LAGCOE trade show, held every other year, draws thousands of people to Lafayette from across the United States and other oil- and gas-producing nations.

This year, industry representatives from Russia, Mexico, West Africa and Brazil are expected to attend Oct. 25-27, LAGCOE Chairman-Elect Kirby Arceneaux said.

“LAGCOE’s an event that is used to promote our industry. It provides an opportunity for many service companies to promote their business,” Arceneaux said. “And it gives an opportunity to the clients of those service companies to see their technologies.”

It’s not by chance that the idea for LAGCOE was conceived in the 1950s with the Lafayette Chamber of Commerce and an industry representative as a way to celebrate the petroleum industry and recognize its contributions to the Gulf Coast.

Acadiana plays an important role in the petroleum industry and the petroleum industry is important to Acadiana, as well.

“Energy is the leading economic driver in Acadiana, employing nearly 20 percent of the workforce and generating 33 percent of the Lafayette MSA’s (Metropolitan Statistical Area’s) GDP,” said Gregg Gothreaux, president and CEO of the Lafayette Economic Development Authority. “This makes Lafayette the logical home for one of the nation’s largest energy industry shows.”

LEDA uses LAGCOE to reinforce relationships with existing companies and to meet with businesses not currently in the region that may complement the region’s existing business base, he said.

The first LAGCOE drew 130 exhibitors to Blackham Coliseum. The event moved to the Cajundome in 1995. Today, it is one of the biggest oil and gas industry conferences in the United States. This year’s event is expected to include more than 300 exhibitors and could draw as many as 16,000 people to Lafayette.

“It is beyond a doubt the biggest meeting that we host in Lafayette,” Gerald Breaux, executive director of the Lafayette Convention and Visitor’s Commission, said. “There’s nothing else that even touches it by way of size, impact and what it does for our community.”

The economic impact on Lafayette alone is huge. The average meeting attendee is said to spend about $140 a day in the community. LAGCOE lasts three days and expects to draw at least 15,000 people, so the direct impact is in the millions of dollars. Each $1 a visitor spends in a community conservatively turns over three times, he said.

“Even if it weren’t for the number of people who come in, just being the face of the oil industry for a week is so important for Lafayette,” Breaux said.

••••••

Here’s a look at the LACGOE schedule:

TUESDAY, OCT. 25

9 a.m. | Official opening of exposition to industry personnel only

10-11:30 a.m. | Technical presentation

Rigs to Reef Program: Panel Discussion of Economic and Potential Ecologic Effects of Program Suspension in Gulf of Mexico. Room 2

1-2 p.m. | Keynote address

Robert Bryce, Author and Senior Fellow at Manhattan Institute – The Myths of “Green” Energy and the Real Fuels of the Future.

Room 1

2:15-3:15 p.m | International presentation

Eduardo Alessandro Molinari, Petrobras Senior Equipment Engineer and Coordinator of the Exploration and Production Board of Petrobras- Exploration and Production in Brazil – Results and Perspectives. Room 2

3:30-4:30 p.m. | Technical presentation

Dr. Robert Twilley, Vice President for Research at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and Louisiana Immersive Technology Enterprise Interim CEO – Water and Oil Should Mix: An Alliance in Energy and Environmental Policies to Reduce Risks to Oil & Gas Exploration in the Gulf of Mexico. Room 2

5 p.m. | Show closes

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 26

9 a.m. | Exposition open to industry

personnel only

10-11:30 a.m. | Spotlight on New Technology: Best of LAGCOE’s technologies and innovations presented in 10-minute highlights. Room 2

1-2 p.m. | Keynote address

Robert P. Powers, President, AEP Utilities – US Energy: Link between Oil and Gas Industry and Electric Utilities, and Regulatory and Legislative Concerns Affecting Our Industries. Room 1

2:15-3:15 p.m. | International presentation

Susan Cunningham, Noble Energy, senior vice president exploration – Israel Developments. Room 2

3:30-4:30 p.m. | Technical presentation

Completion Trends in Horizontal Shale Plays: Panel Discussion of the Dominant Tool Systems Used in Today’s Staged Fracturing Treatment. Room 2

5 p.m. | Show closes

 

THURSDAY, OCT. 27

9 a.m. | Exposition open to industry personnel only

Noon | Exposition opens to public

2 p.m. | Show closes

Original Article