How Louisiana's top port for offshore oil is embracing an 'all of the above' energy strategy

Port Fourchon at the southern tip of Lafourche Parish is the go-to service station for offshore energy production, serving as a base for more than 250 companies that provide the materials and skills necessary for oil and gas operations in the Gulf.

At its helm is Chett Chiasson, a Larose native who since 2010 has served as executive director of the Greater Lafourche Port Commission, overseeing Port Fourchon and the South Lafourche Leonard Miller Jr. Airport.

Fourchon, as the port is known by locals, is a landlord port. It leases out its waterfront property to companies that in turn supply offshore rigs with services like tank and vessel cleaning and commodities like liquid mud for deepwater drilling.

Nearly 15% of the nation’s crude oil production comes from the Gulf and every offshore energy asset in the Gulf is serviced by companies at Fourchon. 

The port includes 1,300 acres of developed land and over 83,000 linear feet of waterfront property. More than 400 supply vessels traverse its channels each day.

Chiasson, who is also board chair of the American Association of Port Authorities, a trade group representing 150 ports in the Western Hemisphere, is guiding Fourchon through its latest expansions. Last year, the port signed a long term lease agreement with Argent LNG LLC, which plans to build a liquified natural gas export export terminal on 144 acres.

Fourchon is also positioning itself as a hub for wind energy, though the industry’s future in the Gulf is unclear. Fourchon is hoping to construct a new, $200 million deepwater port south of its existing site to service offshore rigs and act as a hub for wind farm fabrication, assembly and repair.

In this week’s Talking Business, Chiasson discusses Port Fourchon’s importance to Louisiana’s economy, the future of offshore wind energy and how ports are grappling with Trump’s tariffs. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

How do you explain Port Fourchon’s role in offshore energy production?

Every drilling operation and production process that’s taking place in the Gulf of America is serviced out of our port by our customers and tenants and users. Everything from toilet paper to the most technologically advanced pieces of equipment cross our docks and get on vessels to go to a drilling rig or a production platform.

Oil prices have dropped to their lowest levels in years. How has that affected Port Fourchon?

The simplest way to answer that is things are steady. We haven’t seen any sort of decline. We haven’t seen much rise in activity either.

There’s still some hesitancy to move forward on a lot of things and increase activity because not a lot of change is taking place on the regulatory side. We have seen some production increase announcements from OPEC and others that brings the price of a barrel of oil down, and so as the prices of oil decreases then you’re going to see less investment and money being spent.

Since the last big downturn in 2014, we’ve seen a change in the way business takes place. It’s not a mad rush when things are good and a shutdown when things are bad. 

There’s a global push to transition away from fossil fuels. How is that affecting Port Fourchon? 

We all need to understand that fossil fuels are not going away. I call it an energy “addition” not a “transition.”

The reality is that just about everything we touch in our lives has some sort of petroleum product embedded in it, from the clothes on our back to the chairs that we sit in, to our phones, to our computers to, you know, makeup. Even if we have offshore wind or solar power, we still will need petroleum. 

At the same time, yes, there is pressure. There’s pressure on the oil and gas companies to reduce emissions and there are ways to do that and they are doing it. I would tell you that the oil and gas industry is the leader in coming up with technology to reduce their carbon emissions. 

We’re going to play a role in whatever energy is produced in an offshore setting. We have an all-of-the-above energy strategy. Whatever that looks like, we’re going to play a role. 

Gulf Wind Technology announced last year that it was building a commercial-scale wind turbine at Port Fourchon. What’s the status of that project, and the future of offshore wind energy in the Gulf?

The project has slowed a bit, but Gulf Wind Technology is still planning to put a small-scale wind turbine in the port for testing and data collection, and the port commission, in turn, is going to offtake the power it generates for our operations. 

In terms of the future of offshore wind, you know, I’m not sure. I think the Gulf is maybe slow to come online, if at all. Time will tell. When it’s all said and done, if there will be energy production offshore in the Gulf, Port Fourchon is going to play a role in that.  

What can other ports in the American Association of Port Authorities learn from Port Fourchon?

All these industrial organizations are really about sharing information. It’s networking. It’s lessons learned. You know, from our standpoint, we are pros at hurricane response and recovery, so any advice I can offer my colleagues is something that we do. 

How are the tariffs affecting Port Fourchon and AAPA’s members?

In terms of Port Fourchon itself, we haven’t really seen much direct impact of tariffs as of yet for any of our operations. In general, ports are in a free trade mindset. But we understand what the administration is doing in terms of the enforcing of tariffs to try to get a “better deal” for the U.S. AAPA is active on tariffs and trade and trying to help come up with solutions that work for everyone. 

Port Fourchon is located on a disappearing coastline. You’ve mentioned that industry and the environment are not mutually exclusive. Can you expand on that?

At Port Fourchon, our mindset is holistic resiliency. We need to have a balanced approach to energy, environment and the economy to be successful. 

How can we do the things necessary to sustain our environment, while at the same time, playing our role to provide the energy needs for this country and having a good economy for investment in our community for job creation and all of the things that that means. 

Every speck of sand that we dredge in and around Port Fourchon is utilized beneficially, to either build industrial developable properties or to recreate the marsh that has been lost over the years.