NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Two New Orleans-based offshore supply companies have made recent deals adding up to nearly a billion in combined fleet expansions and improvements.
There's potential for more deals among Gulf Coast vessel companies this year, Matthew Donovan, a senior analyst with IHS-Petrodata, told New Orleans CityBusiness (http://bit.ly/12alRcv).
As oil and gas companies drill in ever-deeper waters, Donovan said, there's great demand for larger, more specialized oil and gas offshore supply vessels — but many shipyards already have a long list of projects in the works. It takes years to build the high-spec, 300-foot vessels now in demand, so vessel companies looking to grow fast are in a pinch, he said.
Harvey Gulf International Marine will spend $540 million to build three new specialty offshore supply vessels and buy 11 boats from Gulf Offshore Logistics of Lafayette.