Jindal company announce $135M expansion in Louisiana

W.R. Grace & Co. and Chevron Products Co. will build a $135 million residue hydro-processing catalyst production plant and additional alumina capacity at the existing Grace manufacturing facility near Lake Charles.

The announcement was made Monday in a news release from Gov. Bobby Jindal and W.R. Grace & Co. Chairman and CEO Fred Festa.

The companies' joint venture is called Advanced Refining Technologies which will create 30 direct jobs while state officials estimate another 88 new indirect jobs will result from the project. Grace will retain 295 direct jobs at the site. Construction of the project is expected to start later in 2015 with an estimated completion time projected for early 2018.

"Louisiana's top-ranked business climate and state workforce development programs continue to make our state a place where businesses want to expand, further propelling our economic momentum.

"When combined with our world-class infrastructure and outstanding workers, these assets are enabling major investors like Grace and Chevron to continue to build the next generation of energy technology right here in Louisiana," Jindal said in a statement.

Grace's 120-acre manufacturing site is across the Calcasieu River from Lake Charles and southwest of the city. There, the facility produces alumina, sodium silicate, fluid-cracking catalysts, hydro-processing catalysts and zeolites, a class of hydrated minerals. It has operated in Southwest Louisiana since 1953.

"This will be a world-class, world-scale catalysts plant that is responding to strong global demand for ART's industry-leading products for residue upgrading," Festa said in the release.

Louisiana Economic Development officials began working with the companies on expansion possibilities in March 2014. To secure the project, the State of Louisiana offered a competitive incentive package, including a $2.4 million Modernization Tax Credit to be claimed over five years.