Offshore Alabama Brings Collaboration of Alabama's Oil & Gas Industry Leaders
September 2009
Alabama Seaport magazine explores the recently formed Oil & Gas Task Force, led by the Mobile Area Chamber. The entity, made up of 25 companies, formed in August 2008. Current chairman, Paul Dieffenthaller, head of ExxonMobil's operations, said, "This group has enabled us for the first time to collectively define the strengths that position Mobile to favorable compete with other communities along the Gulf Coast in this business sector."

 

Competing Gulf ports position themselves for drilling expansion
April 25, 2010
Mobile, Alabama has been working to position itself to take advantage of the eastern gulf’s resources.  Its chamber has been promoting the city with a program called Offshore Alabama.  “The campaign is mainly targeted at existing businesses,” said Steve Russell.  “Mobile’s role to play is the niche market,” Russell said.  “Geographically, we have the capability of serving the eastern Gulf of Mexico.”

Mobile, Ala., feels backlash of gulf oil spill
May 4, 2010
Locals are wary of outsider’s mounting scorn against the offshore oil and gas industry.  The massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is not likely to change pro-oil attitudes in southern Alabama – where gas rigs sprout in the middle of Mobile Bay, drilling platforms are visible from the beaches and the energy industry is a top employer.  Steve Russell of the Mobile Area Chamber echoed the general public opinion on an industry that produces more than $2.5 billion worth of oil and gas annually: “We totally support the oil and gas industry, and we are committed to the industry.”



Gulf oil spill a learning experience, say BP executives
August 11, 2010
Steve Russell, a Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce official who has led an effort to bolster local drilling related companies and recruit new jobs, reiterated the chamber’s support of offshore drilling, including in areas of the eastern Gulf of Mexico, where Florida politicians oppose expansion.

Drill Ban Puts Brakes On Businesses
August 1, 2010
David Rice looked into the yard at Master Boat Builders and saw six vessels under construction, five are offshore supply boats and the other a dive support vessel.

Judge lifts drilling ban
June 23, 2010
A federal judge struck down the Obama administration's six-month oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico as rash and heavy-handed Tuesday, saying the government simply assumed that because one rig exploded that others pose an imminent danger, too.

Local oil industry official applauds decision to block of offshore drilling ...
June 22, 2010 al.com (blog)
An official with the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce applauded a Louisiana judge's decision to block the moratorium on offshore drilling. ...

Shipyards nervously waiting for news
June 17, 2010
Uncertainty over the future of deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico is weighing heavily on shipyards in Alabama and Mississippi that rely on the oil industry for business.

Lots of lessons to be learned
May 9, 2010
The taskforce last week reiterated its support for the Obama administration’s plan to expand drilling in the Gulf – a plan that is on hold since the Deepwater Horizon well disaster and subsequent oil spill.  “Hopefully, this tragic accident will not delay the progress that has been made to open up the acreage to oil and gas exploration,” said Steve Russell, the Mobile Area Chamber’s director of business retention and expansion. 

Alabama businesses could benefit if Gulf of Mexico open for drilling
April 1, 2010
Mobile’s Atlantic Marine, which repairs oil rigs, is also hoping for more work, said Herschel Vinyard, vice president of government affairs.  “Mobile is uniquely positioned to take advantage of offshore energy development in the eastern Gulf of Mexico,” he said.

Activities could benefit Mobile energy sector
January 17, 2010
Mobile-area business leaders hope that big Gulf discoveries like McMoRan's will help grow a local oil and gas service industry that already has a significant economic impact.  “As more and more gas activity takes place offshore, our community has an excellent chance to provide more products and services to companies that are drilling,” said Steve Russell, director of business retention and expansion for the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce. 

Mobile aims to build oil, gas support business
September 6, 2009
Chip Conklin’s Construction Solutions International company started running a supply base for ExxonMobil on the Theodore Industrial Ship Canal in 2002.  But it wasn’t until damage from 2005’s Hurricane Katrina temporarily drove other oil operations to Theodore from their usual Louisiana Bases that Conklin got a glimpse of the big time.  “We never realized how big the opportunity was”, he said.  Now, thanks in part to Conklin, the Mobile Area Chamber has launched an initiative called Offshore Alabama to attract more oil and gas exploration business, partly in hopes that Congress will open areas of the Gulf of Mexico off Florida to drilling.

Aker Solutions was honored for being the Medium-Sized Manufacturer of the Year by the Business Council of Alabama and the Alabama Technology Network, in partnership with the Chamber of Commerce Association of Alabama and the National Association of Manufacturers.  Aker is a global provider of engineering and construction services and produces subsea steel tube unbilicals and other equipment used by the offshore oil and gas industry.  The Chamber nominated the company for the state award after being named the Chamber’s 2008 Manufacturer of the Year.

Chamber names Technip 2009 Manufacturer of the Year 
Since it opened its pipeline fabrication spoolbase in 2001, Technip’s Theodore facility has become one of the most important offshore construction facilities on the entire Gulf Coast and has completed projects for more than 15 operators in the Gulf of Mexico, Brazil, Egypt and Angola.  In 2009 Technip developed in excess of 60 percent market share of subsea fabrication/installation projects in the Gulf of Mexico.  Technip was fortunate to buck the national and international trend by having one of its busiest years on record.  The 140 employees on the spoolbase enjoy pay rates above the national level.  Technip is also the owner of a fleet of offshore vessels.  The reel lay vessel Deep Blue with more than 120 crew members is the largest vessel of its type in the world.