Gulf Marine Fabricators South Yard, Texas

A major offshore oil rig construction yard, located on the intracoastal waterway at Ingleside, across the bay from Corpus Christi. This is the larger of two yards in the area owned by the Gulf Island Fabrication company, based in Houston, Texas. The North Yard is near Aransas Pass, three miles up the waterway. This, the South Yard, is a 200-acre open space with cranes and sheds, where some of the largest movable manufactured objects in the world have been assembled, such as 4,500 ton oil rig topsides, and the 50,000 ton, 1,350-foot-tall jacket tower to support the Bullwinkle deepwater offshore oil rig. The yard has a 600-foot-long graving dock, where large objects can be constructed below sea level, then floated out. The yard used to be owned by Aker-Kiewit, before they split, and Kiewit built a new yard nearby. In 2018, Gulf Island Fabrication sold the South Yard to Buckeye Partners for $55 million.