In the pipeline: Motiva Enterprises has announced that operations at its Convent and Norco, Louisiana, refineries will be integrated to take advantage of increased production of lower-cost U.S. shale oil. Motiva, which is co-owned by Royal Dutch Shell PLC and Saudi Aramco, says the first step in the integration project is the construction of the Maurepas pipeline system that will bring advantaged crude to the Norco refinery and connect the production systems at the two plants. Reuters has the full story. This morning, Houston-based Quanta Services announced it and its subsidiaries have been tapped to provide engineering and other work on the pipeline. Construction is expected to begin later this year and wrap up in the third quarter of 2016.
On staff: A former state representative from Alexandria will work for Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration. Herbert Dixon will be the outreach director for the Louisiana Workforce Commission, the state’s labor department. Dixon, a Democrat, resigned from the Legislature in December after seven years in office, citing health reasons. He had previously served as chairman of the House’s labor committee. Before that, he was a Rapides Parish School Board member. In his new job, the department says Dixon will work with local Workforce Investment Boards and community groups in the Mississippi Delta region to help people find employment. The LWC has more details on Dixon’s hire, as well as two other new leadership hires.
Further up the levee: Two state senators they’re confident they will secure $1.5 million that will unlock $10 million in federal funds to raise the Mississippi River levee in Tensas Parish. State Sens. Neil Riser and Francis Thompson tell The News-Star they have assurances from Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development Secretary Sherri LeBas that the dollars will be made available, mostly through emergency funding. The money would fund a project to raise 4.5 miles of levee by 6 feet in Tensas Parish. Read the full story.
