How a small team with a vision built an industrial powerhouse in Prairieville
Five years ago, Paola Alvarado had big dreams but no work. She, along with her husband, Luis, and founding member Kerry Ponthier were knocking...
Federal investigators say neglect behind BP explosion
BP supervisors played down workers’ concerns about an Ohio refinery spiraling into chaos, missing multiple opportunities to prevent a September 2022 explosion that killed...
What a hyperactive hurricane season means for Louisiana’s oil and natural gas industry
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Thursday issued its most aggressive Atlantic hurricane season forecast on record.
Due to near-record water temperatures and the development...
ExxonMobil begins two-month overhaul of catalytic cracker, hydrocracker
ExxonMobil has shut down its fluidic catalytic cracker and hydrocracker in Baton Rouge for a two-month planned overhaul, Reuters reports. The work began on last week...
ExxonMobil completes $230M upgrade of Baton Rouge refinery
ExxonMobil announced last week that a $230.5 million, three-year modernization initiative at its aging north Baton Rouge refinery has been completed.
The initiative, called the Baton...
Coastal Chemical opens new primary operations hub in Maurice
German chemicals and ingredients distributor Brenntag has opened a new primary operations hub in Maurice for its subsidiary, Coastal Chemical.
CHEManager reports that the 155-acre...
Uncertain project economics can put a contractor’s profitability at risk. Here’s how some are...
An industrial contractor’s ability to maintain a healthy profit margin can be tenuous, at best, in an age of fluctuating material prices, rising wages...
BASF’s Holland: Digitalization has been challenging but necessary during Geismar mega-project
BASF’s Beth Holland says the digitalization of processes during the current MDI3 expansion project in Geismar has brought some unexpected challenges.
As vice president and...
Louisiana has plugged 300 orphaned wells in 2023, but thousands remain
Contractors have plugged 300 orphaned well sites in Louisiana over the past 4½ months, Gov. John Bel Edwards and Department of Natural Resources Secretary...
South Louisiana turnarounds could max out labor as capital projects ramp up
A significant uptick in maintenance turnarounds is most definitely on the way, beginning this spring then followed by a much larger splash in October,...
