Contract awarded to build natural gas plant in Louisiana

Most people are likely familiar with the natural gas boom, and the need for communities to find sources of energy other than imported oil. What Louisiana residents may not know, but may find interesting to learn, is that a contract worth nearly 6 billion dollars was recently struck between CB&I and a Japanese company to build a plant to turn natural gas into liquid form, to be located in southwest Louisiana.

The plant, which is expected to be fully operational by year 2019, is anticipated to result in thousands of new jobs. The expected employment opportunities will be not only at the proposed site of the plant, but also in corporate offices in Baton Rouge, as well as elsewhere in Louisiana. The contract was agreed between CB&I and an American subsidiary of Chiyoda Corp. of Japan on the one side, and Cameron LNG LLC on the other.

According to CB&I, work on building the plant is expected to create an estimated 3,000 jobs on-site. In addition to that, several more hundred jobs will be created at CB&I’s fabrication facilities in Louisiana as well as several hundred engineering and project management jobs in the company’s main office which is located in Baton Rouge.

Work on building the plant is expected to start this year as soon as the required permits are issued by the Department of Energy, and a final investment decision is made by Sempra, an energy company that is expected to own 50.2% ownership interest in Cameron LNG and the proposed natural gas plant.

The nature of work needed to get the plant online includes, among other things, the design and engineering, as well as procurement of, export facilities to Cameron’s existing facility in the city of Hackberry in southern Louisiana. Conditional permission to export liquefied natural gas to certain nations like India, Japan and South Korea was granted earlier to Cameron, but they still await a final Department of Energy permit.

Such business contracts are a positive step for growth of businesses both locally and globally. When multiple businesses and regulatory agencies are involved, it may help companies to have a business law firm familiar with contract negotiations and more by their sides to make such ventures a success.

Source: The Advocate, “CB&I plant contract means thousands of La. jobs,” March 24, 2014