Even in the midst of what could wind up being another bust, faith in an energy boom endures across south Louisiana, The New York Times reports in a new feature on the effect of plummeting oil prices here.
Chuckie Cheramie, who runs a towboat business that caters to the small oil and gas operations in south Louisiana, sees plenty of misery in the current economic climate.
“At this price, it’s really hurting us,” he says, adding that his company has had to release more than half its 22 employees. “Let’s put it this way: Guys that I used to call for work are now calling me for work. I had a captain working for me at 10% of his pay just to keep his job.”
But Cheramie also sits on the Greater Lafourche Port Commission. Port Fourchon, which he helps oversee, is still undergoing a massive expansion to take part in the deepwater drilling frenzy, driven by giants like Chevron, Exxon, BP and Shell.
“We’re not slowing down in Fourchon, I can tell you that right now,” Cheramie says in a tone as excited as he was morose in his comments about his own business. “Price goes down, everybody panics. But in a year, the price comes back up. And it’s higher.”
Despite optimism, the squeeze is already on in south Louisiana. On top of ugly state budget projections, layoff announcements and freezes on new construction projects, cutbacks at drilling companies are leading to cutbacks at the service companies—and before long the grocery stores and car dealerships will start feeling it.
“The price of oil,” towboat company owner Jimmy Lafont says, “controls everything in south Louisiana.”
But every downturn is a little bit different, and as The Times reports, “every downturn falls unevenly—even within the oil industry, as Louisiana’s complicated place in the current price collapse shows.” Read the full story.
