Significant investments: Atlanta-based Axiall Corp. and Lotte Chemical Corp. have reached a deal to build a $1.9 billion ethane cracker plant next to Axiall’s chlor-alkali chemical facility in Lake Charles, the two companies announced Thursday in a news release. The ethane-based ethylene plant built by LACC LLC, a company formed by Axiall and Lotte, is expected to produce 1 million metric tons of ethylene annually and will supply a new $1.1 billion monoethylene glycol plant being built by the Republic of Korea-based Lotte Chemical adjacent to the new plant. The announcement also says CB&I has been selected to build the main steam cracker. Site work began in the last few months, and construction is expected to begin in the second quarter of 2016. The release did not say how much it will cost to build the plant.
Slippery slope: There are two less rigs in Louisiana exploring for oil and gas than there were last week, continuing a yearlong drop. According to Houston-based Baker Hughes, 58 rigs are operating in Louisiana, down from 60, where it had stayed for two weeks. That number includes 37 land rigs, one inland water rig and 20 offshore rigs. Overall, the total number of rigs in the U.S. stayed the same from last week at 709. This week last year, there were 110 rigs in Louisiana and 1,875 in the U.S. The number of rigs in Louisiana dropped to the mid-80s in March to the 70s in April, where it has stayed for most of the year until October when the number dipped into the 60s.
Continuing education: Beginning in February, instructors in the LSU AgCenter’s Food Incubator will hold periodic two-day workshops aimed at helping food service employees learn the ins and outs of the federal Food and Drug Administration’s new Preventive Controls for Human Food rules. The workshops, which will cost $350, satisfy the training requirement that workers who manufacture, process, pack or hold food must receive in the principles of food hygiene and food safety. Among the topics covered are Current Good Manufacturing Processes set forth by the FDA, food hazards and controls, sanitation programs, and employee health and hygiene. The first workshop will occur Feb. 18-19 in Room 214 at Efferson Hall at the corner of Highland Road and West Parker Boulevard.
