Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Travis Woods has his finger on the pulse of industry with insight in the multi-billions of dollars worth of projects in the Golden Triangle and beyond.

So when Zachry Industrial Inc. filled for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May ended work as one of the EPC Contractors (Engineering, Procurement, and Constructing) on the Golden Pass LNG project, Woods looked to the positive and not the negative.

“I’ve been in this business 40 years and have seen this happen about thee times, this being the third. It is so unfortunate how this thing came to pass,” said Woods, an area businessman and one of the founders of the Golden Triangle Industrial Group.

“I try to read between he lines and say, OK, is there any good to all of this? The 1,600 people that had to be laid off, many turned around and went back to work.”

There are billions of dollars of industrial work in this area and Lake Charles, and a number of those workers are coming in from other areas. So they, in turn, go to the next project in their field.

By filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Zachry is able to reorganize, catch their breath and get back to business.

Woods believes Golden Pass LNG, which is an investment by QatarEnergy and ExxonMobil, will be OK with their management groups at the helm.

He believes 100 percent the project will be completed.

Golden Pass

An official with Golden Pass LNG said they are continuing the project with the secondary EPC, adding work has not stopped.

Officials with Zachry provided a statement regarding the exit from the project.

“Zachry is proud of our role as an employer in our communities and the work we do to serve our customers,” the statement read. “We were forced to take decisive action to protect our business after nearly a year of good-faith efforts on our part to resolve significant challenges at the Golden Pass LNG export terminal project in Sabine Pass, TX.”

Since beginning work on the project in 2019, Zachry has absorbed staggering costs arising from the global pandemic and supply chain crisis, the statement read.

As the situation at the site became increasingly untenable, “we did everything in our control to resolve the complex issues affecting the project, and we are extremely disappointed that we were unable to arrive at a feasible outcome,” the statement said.

Zachry said Golden Pass LNG’s refusal to engage productively or make good on numerous empty promises of financial support “forced us to lay off employees and seek protection and resolution through a Chapter 11 process.”

Port Arthur Newsmedia’s requests for additional Golden Pass comments and construction timelines were not responded to.

Earlier this year, at the peak of construction, Zachry had more than 6,000 employees onsite. About half of the workforce was reduced as cost reduction initiative requested by Golden Pass LNG, according to the Zachry statement.

Help for employees

Workforce Solutions Southeast Texas is equipped with a number of ways to assist impacted employees.

Alexis Miller with Workforce Solutions said workers can visit any of their four locations for job search assistance and other services offered, such as, but not limited to, resume and interviewing help.

Workforce Solutions locations are at: 4680 FM 365, Port Arthur; 510 Park St., Suite 200, Beaumont; 226 MacArthur Drive, Orange; and 975 Highway 327 E, Suite 147, Silsbee.

Potentially affected employees can apply for unemployment by calling 800-939-6631

Dislocated workers can stay up to date on job fairs and hiring events through our job fairs calendar at setworks.org/job-fairs/.