Jay Schempf, Special Correspondent
Vessel availability, although important, is hardly the sole concern when it comes to managing the logistics of round-tripping consumables, special equipment, and manpower from shore bases to offshore drilling, production, or construction sites.
Historically, operators - particularly in heavily populated offshore oil and gas provinces like the Gulf of Mexico -handle logistics scheduling by making sure they have one marine services vessel “at the rig (or platform or construction site)” and one “on the bank.” Oddly enough, the expenses associated with such logistics planning for offshore projects have been accepted for decades as a necessary cost of doing business. Add more vessels; add more unavoidable expense.
But not anymore. Today, maximizing the efficiency of supply by sea and solving critical challenges presented by fuel, staging, manpower, space, loading, and vessel scheduling can result in significant, even momentous savings. C-Logistics can prove it.
One year after one major GoM operator set the company’s integrated logistics package into motion, it reported savings on total marine service costs for both shelf and deepwater projects at $18 million. Other GoM operators reported similar results.
Founded in 1999 as an independent business unit of offshore vessel services company Edison-Chouest Offshore (ECO), C-Logistics offers integrated supply management services to both shelf and deepwater operations from its headquarters in Port Fourchon, Lafourche Parish, Louisiana.
Daniel LaFont, marketing manager, says C-Logistics creates a “one-stop” multi-service supply chain link from any port in the GoM or from any port in the world.
A key C-Logistics asset is ECO’s extensive, C-Port multi-service terminal and deep-channel vessel-loading facility in Port Fourchon. The C-Port facilities, with 18 vessel loading slips, all of which are under cover, operate on a 24/7 schedule. In addition to dockside loading points, he says, the entire C-Port area is well lighted to allow unhindered nighttime activity and to enhance the security already provided by continuous fencing with controlled access points.
“The service areas are designed for simultaneous loading/off-loading of large deck cargoes as well as tank-topping supplies of fuel, water, cements, barites, liquid muds, and completion fluids, among other drilling and production consumables,” says LaFont. The port facilities also provide round-the-clock equipment and services for on-site wastewater treatment, fluids recovery, and tank cleaning.
And, he notes, the port features specialized slips for the largest deepwater offshore vessels, including those that transport operator-ordered equipment and tools from other parts of the world.
While ECO service/supply vessels often fulfill contracts for offshore operators, similar vessels owned and operated by other companies can be included as well, usually dependent upon clients’ existing marine service contracts and on overall vessel availability.
Perhaps C-Logistics’ most important asset is the years of experience gained by its logistics specialists in how best to reduce in-port turnaround time, one of the biggest contributors to the high cost of conventional “two-boat” supply management, says LaFont. What’s more, he adds, they back this knowledge with TRITON, a proprietary logistics management software package. By feeding key project performance indicators into TRITON, he says, C-Logistics helps clients to:
- Select the most cost-effective vessel profile
- Schedule and monitor terminal delivery, staging, and loading
- Identify shipping corridors and define optimum routes
- Arrange for dockside support services, as required.
But that’s not all. If they prefer, says LaFont, multiple clients can optimize marine assets by using C-Logistics’ Vessel-Sharing Agreement, under which they can divide the cost of vessel mobilization when deliveries are staged logically to the satisfaction of all concerned.
“The agreement, which can be a separate function or part of the main logistics contracts for multiple clients, establishes equal guidelines for all participants,” he says. “It obligates only those marine assets designated by the client, but participation allows multiple clients to ‘partner’ common assets on a kind of pay-as-you-go basis, regardless of project scope.” As a result, he says, clients maintain a significant level of logistics control and efficiency - and save on service vessel mobilization and turnaround.
“It gives them a degree of optimized staging and transportation never before imagined in marine materials movement,” says LaFont. What’s more, such an agreement can be contracted either for the life of an offshore project or projects or, for shorter periods, when the intensity of individual project activity is high or, conversely, when it’s low.
“The concept of equipment sharing has been accepted widely for mobile offshore drilling units,” he observes, “and the industry, particularly in the Gulf, is beginning to accept crossover of this concept into other mobile offshore equipment such as service/supply vessels.”
Judging from C-Logistics client base, acceptance has accelerated. The company has ongoing integrated logistics contracts to provide both drilling and production operations in the GoM for Shell E&P, Anadarko Petroleum, TOTAL E&P, and Hydro GOM, among others. It also provides drilling location logistics for ExxonMobil and Dominion E&P.
For more information on C-Logistics’ integrated logistics system, contact Daniel LaFont at 985-601-4162 or view the Edison-Chouest Web site:www.chouest.com.
