The first phase of dredging Slip D in Lafourche Parish’s Port Fourchon’s northern expansion area has been completed as the port prepares for the eventual upswing in the oil industry.
The Courier reports the project will add 300 acres of developed property and create more than 10,000 linear feet of waterfront to the central service hub for the Gulf of Mexico oilfield industry.
Slip D will be about 3,800 feet long, and crews will dredge nearly 4 million cubic yards to create 150 acres of developed property and 65 acres of marsh, according to the Greater Lafourche Port Commission. Two miles of steel bulkhead and one mile of roadway is also being added.
Earlier this year, port Executive Director Chett Chiasson told The Courier the slip will be wider than Port Fourchon’s other slips, which are 700 feet wide.
“Our tenants envision bringing larger vessels into port waterways into the future, so Slip D is growing in width to accommodate longer, wider vessels and the turning radius a larger vessel may need,” Chiasson said.
Edison Chouest Offshore has the right of first refusal on a section of Slip D, he added.
The project cost is $100 million, officials said.
Port Fourchon services over 90% of the Gulf of Mexico’s deepwater oil production and more than 250 companies use it as a base of operation, according to the Port Commission’s website. Up to 1,200 trucks and 400 large supply vessels travel in and out of the port each day.
The port is also the land base for the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, which handles 10% to 15% of the nation’s domestic and foreign oil, and is connected to 50% of U.S. refining capacity.
Port Fourchon supplies the country with about 18% of its oil supply as more than 1.5 million barrels of crude oil per day are transported via pipelines through the port, according to the port commission.
