Hurricanes eating into Equest's time, cash

WITH NEW Orleans' wishy-washy weather conditions, Leslie Kramer always considered herself lucky never to have sustained storm damage at her home or the 16-acre horse farm she operates in City Park.

But, in one week's time, Kramer's luck changed.

First, Tropical Storm Isidore unloaded a

foot of rain in 26 of her 65 stalls at Equest Farms, which she owns with her two sisters, Mary Antonini and Ellen Addison. The stables required $3,000 in repairs, but Kramer says that's a huge break considering it would have cost upwards of $20,000 to move her 45 show horses and the 20 horses she uses for riding lessons.

But, just as Kramer thought she had escaped a close call with Isidore, Hurricane Lili started creeping up a similar path. Last Tuesday morning, it looked like she would have to start packing up the horses, feed, buckets and hay. The stable owner said she'd just have to cat the cost because the animals' safety is her primary concern.

"The horses are reliant on people to take care of them because they're in an artificial environment," she says. "So, the responsibility isn't just about loss of property; it's about loss of life. And, that keeps you awake at night."

It certainly kept her awake last week, she says. But once again, at the last possible minute, Kramer opted to brave the weather. She had crushed limestone bedded into each stable to raise their level by a foot. Kramer hoped the raised stables would be enough to protect the horses from Hurricane Lili, which was expected to produce less rain than Isidore.

Still, even without the exorbitant relocation cost, she says the weather has put her stable in a tremendous financial bind. The most crucial blow is the estimated daily loss of a $1,000 in revenue for horse lessons. And though her income is temporarily foregone, she still has a staff of 13 to pay, not to mention 65 horses to maintain.

"I'm sure I'm not the only business that's suffered. Any business reliant on weather has been hit," Kramer says.

She is right. Harvey-based Superior Energy Services, Inc., which specializes in oil production and development, issued a notice Sept. 30 that the four tropical storms in the Gulf of Mexico last month will reduce the company's third quarter earnings to a range of 2 cents to 4 cents per share, down from the projected 10 cents per share. The company earned 11 cents per share during the second quarter.

"Although the risk of weather is always present this time of year, the actual weather disruption in September was greater than in years past, says Terry Hall, president and CEO of Superior. He says his company experienced a 50% cut in its services for that month.

October began in the same fashion with Superior evacuating its entire offshore crew. Hall says activity will be made up in the fourth quarter, but September was a wasted opportunity.

"It's like an empty airplane seat. When the plane takes off, you never have that opportunity back to fill it. When we lose days of work, we never get that opportunity back. We'll finish the work, but those days are lost for good" he says.

For the second straight week, Shell evacuated its 1,600-person offshore crew as Hurricane Lili became a threat.

"We had never really gotten back up to full staff from (Tropical Storm) Isidore, though. We had never sent our non-essential staff back out,' says Mary Dokianos, a spokesperson for Shell.

Dokianos says the storm does not pose a real loss to Shell, since the resources are still in the ground. But, there is about 425,000 barrels of oil and 1.9 billion cubic feet of gas shut in, she says.

"We'll eventually get to it, but it will cause a delay of when we receive funds for it," she says.

Meanwhile, ChevronTexaco, which also has extensive production operations in the Gulf of Mexico, also evacuated its entire offshore staff.

"The decision was made that we would evacuate our non-essential personnel starting (last) Monday and bring in the remaining personnel Tuesday. The safety of our employees is our highest priority," says Ayana McIntosh-Lee, a spokesperson for the oil company.

McIntosh-Lee says though the company brought in its manpower, the company still has technology to continue operating remotely.

"Just because we bring in our employees, it doesn't mean production shuts down," she says.

However, as a result of Tropical Storm Isidore, the company no", has 50,000 barrels of oil and 265 million cubic feet of gas shut in the ground.

All anyone could do was just watch and wait.

"I hope Lili passes quickly so we can get back into the Gulf and start producing again," says Dokianos.