Chouest Expands in the U.S. Gulf With Acquisition of Diving Company CEES

Champagne Energy and Environmental Solutions (CEES) has joined Edison Chouest Offshore. The acquisition, announced on March 19, will give Chouest Group the tools to provide turn-key offshore decommissioning services.

CEES was founded by Robbie Champagne in 2008 as C-Dive LLC. Based out of Houma, Louisiana, Robbie leveraged his experience, industry contact sand his "sixth sense" for the business to accelerate his company’s growth during a time when diving hegemons like Caldive, Global Industrial Solutions LLC and Epic Divers and Marine Services imploded under stagnating oil prices and the cost of maintaining capital assets. By late 2013, as Global ceased operations and Caldive’s days were numbered, C-Dive acquired their first vessel, the 140’ four-point anchor Dive Support Vessel (DSV) Ms. Kerci.

With the newest and arguably the most agile four-point in the Gulf of Mexico, C-Dive was positioned for growth. Over the course of the next decade, C-Dive expanded services beyond just surface supplied diving: they became Champagne Energy and Environmental Solutions (CEES) with capabilities that include saturation diving and remotely operated vehicles (ROVs). CEES matured into the Gulf’s leading subsea contractor for pipeline plug and abandonment, platform inspection and offshore decommissioning services.

While the terms of the acquisition have not been released, the current management team will remain. Robbie Champagne is enthusiastic about the potential that joining the Chouest Group will bring. “I am energized and looking forward to this year. There are going to be some exciting things coming up real soon," he says.

This is expected to be just the first move for the Chouest Group’s broader strategic plan. Chouest Group’s newest acquisition is going to give them the talent and resources to effectively begin a system of vertical integration for almost any offshore service, from inspection to decommissioning. As Robbie said, this is going to be an exciting year!

The opinions expressed herein are the author's and not necessarily those of The Maritime Executive.