New territory: Lard Oil Co. of Denham Springs has acquired L.M. Daigle Oil Distributors of Sulphur for an undisclosed amount, the Livingston Parish oil company announced today. Terms of the deal, effective Nov. 15, were not disclosed. Lard Oil now has eight locations, including spots in Plaquemine, Gueydan and New Iberia, plus three locations in Mississippi. The company says Daigle Oil’s facility in Lake Charles enables Lard Oil to better serve existing and new customers with petroleum services and quality products. Daigle Oil opened up shop in southwest Louisiana in 1950.
Dropping: First-time claims for unemployment insurance in Louisiana for the week ending Nov. 12 decreased from the previous week’s total, The Associated Press reports. State labor department figures released today show the initial claims fell to 2,386 from the previous week’s total of 2,704. For the comparable week a year earlier, there were 3,196. The four-week moving average, which is a less volatile measure of claims, decreased to 2,508 from the previous week’s average of 2,580. Continued unemployment claims claimed for the week ending Nov. 12 decreased to 23,117 compared to 23,616 the previous week. The four-week moving average for such claims decreased to 23,377 from the previous week’s average of 23,516.
Going up: Louisiana had more rigs actively exploring for oil and gas this week, according to the weekly tally from Houston-based oilfield services company Baker Hughes. The state gained four rigs this week, bringing Louisiana’s total rig count to 52. There were 48 rigs last week. Louisiana had 65 rigs around this time last year. Nationally, the rig count shot upward by 20 this week, bringing the total number of active oil and rigs to 588 from last week’s total of 568. The increase is good news for the country, but the national rig count is still below the 757 count from this time a year ago.
