Source: NOLA.com
Discovery should mean big boost for south Louisiana economy Discovery should pump La. economy
September 3, 2009
By Jen DeGregorio and Chris Kahn
BP said Wednesday that it has drilled the world ’s deepest oil well in the Gulf of Mexico and found a giant pool of crude, a discovery that promises to make an indelible mark on the south Louisiana economy. The Tiber Prospect is expected to rank among the largest petroleum discoveries in the United States, potentially producing half as much crude in a day as Alaska’s famous North Slope oil field. Louisiana energy circles were abuzz with news of the discovery Wednesday. “Any incremental business in the Gulf of Mexico is going to be a net positive for us one way or the other,” said Todd Hornbeck, chief executive of Hornbeck Offshore Services of Covington, which is the nation’s second-largest provider of deepwater offshore supply vessels. Hornbeck said the company received a big boost after BP made another major discovery in the late 1990s in the Thunder Horse oilfield. Located about 150 miles southeast of New Orleans, the Thunder Horse platform is the biggest producer in the Gulf, pumping 250,000 barrels of oil and 200 million cubic feet of natural gas per day.
— A big job producer — Developing Thunder Horse required billions of dollars and countless workers, many of them flown in or carried by boat from Louisiana to install equipment or provide other services, Hornbeck said. Shipyards, refiners and manufacturers and retailers of an array of industrial equipment also saw an uptick in business because of Thunder Horse, said Don Briggs, president of the Louisiana Oil and Gas Association. “The support industry for a project as big as this is huge,” Briggs said of Tiber, which could be even bigger than Thunder Horse.
