It sounds like the set-up to a bad B movie, but it really happened at Negreet High School in Many, where a portrait of Jesus once hung in the school lobby and Bible verses hung on the walls — until the ACLU of Louisiana filed suit on behalf of the...
Environmental (and political) junkies got a double fix on Nov. 18 when The Lens hosted a Breakfast with the Newsmakers discussion between Lens environmental writer Bob Marshall and Gladstone Jones, the lead attorney in the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority — East’s lawsuit against more than 90 oil and gas companies.
For banks, the immediate result of the price slide — West Texas Intermediate went from a year high of $107 a barrel in June to the mid-$60 range by late November — has been a decrease in stock prices, especially for those institutions with a high percentage of loans tied to oil and gas service companies.
Just hours before this issue was going to press, Coldwell Banker Pelican Real Estate’s Steven Hebert delivered more upbeat news: “With some amazement, I can report that at some point last week, Lafayette Parish real estate sales surpassed last year’s annual record of $674 million."
Can anything alter Lafayette’s rosy trajectory? Well yes, a sustained
slump in oil prices certainly can, along with a lack of opportunity for
all of our citizens.
In the mid-1980s, I (vicariously) witnessed an investment lesson that has stuck with me. In 1985, I had taken a job as a petroleum engineer with a relatively small but aggressive oil and gas company. This company was publicly traded, and its stock was offered as an option in the company’s retirement plan.
After General Electric Oil & Gas acquired the old VectorGrey campus off Highway 90 in Broussard, it approached Abell + Crozier + Davis Architects with the daunting task of bringing the entire facility up to current branding standards while still maintaining its daily operations, all within a two-year time frame.
Spring is in the air and summer is right around the corner. This spring feels different for many Acadiana residents than last year, as low oil prices have equated to some local job losses and economic contraction.
The Council of Petroleum Accountants Societies of Acadiana announced its 2015-2016 board of directors. President Alex Gray, joint interest supervisor with Stone Energy Corporation, is an LSU/UNO MBA graduate. Vice President Caroline D. Bonin, CFO
advisory consultant with Caroline D. Bonin, is a UL Lafayette/Tulane
MBA graduate with work experience in public accounting, banking and the
oil and gas industry.
Price of Oil Getting Political in LouisianaWhile oil prices,
and predictions about where they’re going, don’t paint a pretty picture
for the state of Louisiana, we’re unlikely to see a true and complete
portrait of their effect on the current fiscal year budget until the
next governor is sworn in.
This too shall pass, and when this downturn turns around — as it always does — the local oil patch will be looking to fill lots of posts with educated and skilled workers. And South Louisiana Community College believes it will provide those companies with just the right candidates.
It should come as no surprise to anyone that the large number of layoffs going on in the oil industry because of the decline in the price of oil have resulted in more lawsuits being filed by those affected by the downsizings.
The lingering downturn in oil prices has companies consolidating,
workers being laid off, skilled employees leaving and industry leaders
painfully recalling the mid-1980s.
Despite an extremely challenging year brought on by a severe downturn in the oil and gas industry, Acadian Cos. assumes the No. 1 spot on this year’s list.
Congressional candidate Scott Angelle’s term as secretary of the Department of Natural Resources was a free ride for the oil and gas industry, and it cost the state dearly in lost revenue.
Can the Republican son-in-law of a former Democratic governor help clean up a mess left by Bobby Jindal in one of the state’s least known but most important revenue-generating offices? We’re about to find out.
The downturn has taken a toll on commercial activity in the Lafayette area, but oil’s low price reality is sinking in just as opportunities for diversification abound.
Oil and gas’ dominance of the Top 50 is dwindling, and that should send a clear message to everyone about the critical importance of a diverse economy.