$9.4 Billion Chemical Manufacturing Plant Coming to St. James Parish

Formosa Petrochemical Corp. executive Keh-Yen Lin announced the company has selected St. James Parish in Louisiana for a $9.4 billion chemical manufacturing complex and has purchased a 2,400-acre site along the west bank of the Mississippi River.

Located just downriver from the Sunshine Bridge, the complex would be built in two phases and produce ethylene, propylene, ethylene glycol and associated polymers. Formosa plans to operate the complex under its subsidiary and Louisiana registered company, FG LA LLC, and is branding the site as “The Sunshine Project.” Pending the completion and approval of permits for the site, FG could begin construction as soon as 2019 in what projects to be a 10-year building and development process in two phases.

The Sunshine Project would create 1,200 new direct jobs averaging $84,500, plus benefits. Louisiana Economic Development estimates the project also would result in 8,000 new indirect jobs, for a total of more than 9,000 jobs in the River Parishes and surrounding regions of Louisiana.

“For more than 50 years, the Sunshine Bridge has connected the River Parishes in a strategic fashion that has enabled tremendous industrial growth and thousands of new jobs along both sides of the Mississippi River in Louisiana,” Gov. John Bel Edwards said. “The new Sunshine Project continues that bridge into a brighter economic future for Louisiana, one with an estimated 8,000 construction jobs at peak, even more permanent jobs upon completion, and a multibillion-dollar impact on earnings and business purchases for decades to come. As a major global manufacturer based in Taiwan, Formosa has operated in Louisiana for several decades, and we applaud the company’s responsible and thorough approach to developing this project.”

With over 100,000 employees worldwide, Formosa Plastics Group operates three existing Louisiana facilities with 410 employees in East Baton Rouge and Pointe Coupee parishes. Years in the making, the St. James Parish complex will create one of the world’s most innovative, single-site ethylene hubs. Production at the Louisiana complex will support a host of plastic goods, ranging from sports equipment and food packaging to clothing and healthcare and technology products.

To secure the project, the State of Louisiana offered a competitive incentive package that would include a $12 million performance-based grant to offset infrastructure costs. Following company performance in building the complex, FG would receive the grant in four annual installments of $3 million beginning in 2021, the projected first year for hiring permanent jobs. FG also would receive the services of the nation’s No. 1 state workforce development program, LED FastStart®, and the company expects to utilize Louisiana’s Quality Jobs and Industrial Tax Exemption programs.

Photo Source: Formosa Petrochemical Corp.