NEW IBERIA, LA (AP) — Three oil and gas service companies located at the Port of Iberia say they plan to expand operations and add employees
The Advocate’s Billy Gunn reports the move bucks the trend of energy companies announcing layoffs and tightened budgets due to low commodity prices.
"We see a very brisk future over the next five years," said Eddie Clay, manager for Chart Energy and Chemicals Inc.'s Port of Iberia's plant.
Clay told the port's Board of Commissioners that Chart, an international corporation, was planning almost $40 million in upgrades to its existing port property. Chart's port facility manufactures cryogenic equipment used to turn natural gas into a cold liquid for storage and transport.
Clay said Chart had locked in an $85 million LNG project that starts in February. He said the company is in negotiations for other LNG projects worth $2.25 billion.
Patrick Vilyus, vice president of Logan Industries International Corporation, said Logan, too, is expecting to ramp up work on deepwater Gulf of Mexico projects and that the company needed a facility in Louisiana to store and service its customers' equipment.
Logan is a part of DGI, Doedijns Group International, and manufactures a range of components for oil and gas exploration and production. The company is headquartered in Hempstead, Texas, northwest of Houston.
Logan will operate on 10.6 waterfront acres at the port.
Next to Logan, Ram Design LLC plans to set up shop on 18 acres at one of the port's slips. Ram Design offers an array of services for deepwater production operations, including detecting and measuring corrosion in deepwater risers. Ram Design's owner Richard Romero said business is brisk.
