The pipe rack at the new facility houses 5 miles (8 km) of pipe so that all mixing and loading operations at the facility can take place simultaneously. (Images courtesy of M-I SWACO)

Hurricane Katrina, a Category 3 hurricane when it made landfall in southeastern Louisiana in August of 2005, was followed barely a month later by Hurricane Rita, another Category 3 storm. The catastrophic storms left more than US $95 billion damage in their wake.

Many of the facilities that serve offshore operations in the Gulf from locations in Port Fourchon, Venice, and Cameron, La., were annihilated. So although offshore operations were able to resume shortly after Rita passed through, the onshore facilities that provide the fluids necessary for deepwater drilling were not so fortunate.

Billy Alston, senior regional distribution manager for M-I Swaco, works with the warehouses along the Gulf coast. Alston observed the aftermath of the storms firsthand. The damage, he said, was colossal.

“There were light poles and electricity outages at the Port Fourchon facility, but the Venice facility was under eight feet of water for two weeks,” Alston said. “There was no food because there were no grocery stores. There was limited water. There was no electricity.”

Things were bad in Venice, but the Grand Isle and Cameron facilities were much worse off. “At Cameron,” Alston said, “there were parts of the facility we couldn’t even find.” The devastation was enormous. “Imagine walking into your home and seeing the furniture upside down, the walls wet, the carpets torn up, and all the dishes broken in the middle of the floor. That’s what our yards looked like.”

Water at the mixing facility was 14 ft (4 m) deep, Alston said. “It was like the Gulf had just moved in. Where you can now drive on the highway, you could have launched a boat and fished.”

Though the damage caused by the storm surge and heavy winds was considerable, debris carried by the receding water tore up the facility even more. Tanks and facilities were overturned and damaged, and all of the compressors and engines were under water. “When I looked at the damage there, I truly believed we wouldn’t get the facility back online in under a year,” Alston said.

The challenge of rebuilding was compounded by nature in the form of swarming mosquitoes and a multitude of snakes. “We had 600 to 700 snakes, many poisonous, that had to be dealt with before the area could be reclaimed,” Alston said. “There was no hospital nearby because it had been destroyed by the storm. A snake bite could have been fatal. The dedication of people who were willing to work under these conditions is unbelievable.”

The less damaged Port Fourchon facility was back online within a couple of weeks, but the work at Venice and Cameron had only begun. Employees whose homes had suffered damage on the same scale as the company’s facilities went to work to get the plants back up and running.

“Unbelievably, these people went back to work,” Alston said. “There was never a whimper or a cry. They just did what they had to do. The company got back to business as a result of the efforts of these employees.”

Building on faith

In 30 days, the Cameron facility was functional again, though not at the pre-hurricane level. It was at this stage, Alston said, that the company decided to erect a new facility a short distance away where there was access to a deepwater channel. The new location serves customers better because deepwater ships can dock next to the facility.

The new building, which is three times the size of the old one, provides the same services as before, Alston said, but the speed at which the fluids can be mixed has been reduced in some cases from three days to six hours, and greater quantities can be mixed and stored.

The new plant can supply the large mud quantities required for offshore drilling more quickly, Alston said. “For example, where we only could handle 4,000 bbl of a synthetic-based fluid, now we can handle 12,000 bbl. We can pump 3,500 sacks of barite per hour, compared to about 1,000 sacks per hour, which is what was possible previously. And we can do a lot more things at one time. We’ve set up the facility so that everything can be done from one spot. At our former site, loading was complicated, and the vessels had to move up and down the dock to take on supplies. Now, there is no need for the boat to move. What used to take us 48 hours can now be done in 12.”

A new take on construction

The new facility was constructed with as many safety and environmental features as the company could devise, Alston said. For example, ladders that were previously moved from one area to another are now built-in features. The number of scaffolds was reduced, and more handrails were installed. “Workers don’t have to think so much about safety because we built it in.”

One of the biggest changes was the move to all electric equipment. “Previously, we worked on diesel equipment, which proved to be a
liability when the hurricanes blew through because it was hooked up to motors and fuel lines that took too long to disconnect.” Alston said. “With the new electric equipment, we can remove equipment quickly and be back online in 20 minutes.”

Another innovation is the construction material. The new plant, built to withstand 140-mph winds, is made out of fiberglass, which Alston says is “a first.” The company tested the theory of using fiberglass on a small section of the facility in Venice, and when it worked, decided to use fiberglass for the Cameron mixing platform.
“Steel structures rust, and maintenance can cost over a quarter of a million dollars per year,” Alston explained. This maintenance is unnecessary on fiberglass.

The company also used fiberglass to build its mixing tanks. “Normally steel tanks are coated when diesel and other components are used for mixing,” Alston explained. “Because fiberglass doesn’t require a coating, all of the tanks can be cleaned easily after handling any kind of fluid and are ready for the next batch. This adds considerable flexibility.”

Another innovation at Cameron is the piping inside the facility. “We’ve got 5 miles (8 km) of pipe in the rack. All of the operations at the facility can be functioning at the same time. It used to be that if a customer wanted barite, we had to shut down the liquids because there was only one line going to the dock. Now, we have eight lines, so the mixing process can continue while loading is taking place,” Alston said.

The new facility also boasts zero discharge. “Where barite used to be vented, it is now collected by a dust collecter system that is the most efficient on the market,” Alston explained.

Cameron today

Along with the facility in Cameron, which has been fully operational since December 2007, M-I Swaco operates several additional water port facilities in the area, with two in Venice, four more in Port Fourchon, Intracoastal City, Berwick, and Dulac, and a new modern facility on Pelican Island in Galveston, Texas.

“M-I is putting a foot forward to invest in the Cameron area to show conviction that it’s important to re-establish itself there,” Alston said. “We repaired this facility and spent a lot of money improving it because we want the people who supported us here to know we are here for the long haul. We are going to create jobs, and we’re going to do business here. We see a future in this region despite the destructive weather that is possible. We are not going to run scared. We need to be here to service our customers in the Gulf.”