Tagged: oil industry

Petrobras USA says production has begun at its Chinook oil field in the ultra-deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

The company says production started last week in the field using a specialized ship that processes and stores oil and natural gas in place of a production platform. The field is being worked by BW Pioneer, a type of ship known in the oil industry as a floating, production, storage and offloading vessel, or FPSO.

Forum Energy Technologies says it plans to build a new 150,000-square-foot facility in St. Martin Parish to produce onshore and offshore drilling equipment for global customers.

Forum Energy CEO Cris Gaut says the $19 million project will replace an existing facility in nearby Broussard. The project will retain 203 existing jobs and create 125 new direct jobs with average annual salaries of more than $45,000, plus benefits. State economic development officials estimate the project will also create an additional 300 new indirect jobs.

A new laboratory at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux will give students hands-on experience with the kind of equipment used to prevent blowouts and other catastrophes on oil rigs.

Nicholls officials and industry executives last week unveiled the lab, which is named after Johnson L. "Bubba" Hale Jr., a Nicholls alumnus and oil industry executive. The Daily Comet reports the Friday ceremony was one of the last formal steps before students in petroleum services and safety technology courses start using the equipment.