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News
SNF Holding
Company is pleased to announce the successful commissioning and start up
of its new, grass roots production facility in Plaquemine Louisiana.
The first phase of the startup is now operating with four additional units
scheduled to come on-line in the subsequent four years. Once the facility
is fully operational in 2015, Flopam is expected to have a workforce of
around 500 direct employees and 100 permanent contractors.
The SNF Flopam facility will produce acrylamide monomer and polyacrylamide
powders packaged in bags or supersacks. Polyacrylamide is a water-soluble
polymer that is commonly used to assist in removing impurities from water
and in wastewater treatment applications. It is also used in oil and
natural gas drilling and has achieved success in enhanced oil recovery.
Ground broken for SNF Flopam plant in Iberville
Plaquemine facility to employ about 500 people, 100 contract
workers after completion in 2015
* By CHAD CALDER
* Advocate business writer
* Published: Aug 24, 2010 - Page: 4B
PLAQUEMINE — State and local officials and employees of SNF Flopam
held a groundbreaking ceremony Monday for the French chemical
company’s $362 million manufacturing facility just south of the
Georgia Gulf and Shintech plants on River Road.
SNF announced its plan last year to build the Plaquemine plant, which
will make water-soluble polymer that flushes oil out of recovery
wells. It will be built in five phases through 2015. When completed,
it will employ 500 people directly and 100 permanent contract workers.
The project is expected to create 250 construction jobs and a total of
1,400 jobs after ripple-effect job creation is factored in.
The first unit will begin operating in the third quarter of 2011. Site
manager Brian Soucy of Global Environmental Solutions said the plant
will occupy 150 acres on the 800-acre site.
Gov. Bobby Jindal took the occasion to tell the media, local officials
and dozens of SNF employees on hand that the company’s decision to
locate in Iberville Parish is a testament to the state’s resiliency.
He said it, along with economic development success stories such as
Albemarle, Trace Securities and Electronic Arts, are proof that the
state has rebounded from hurricanes Katrina and Rita and will weather
the Gulf oil leak as well.
An economic impact study by LSU estimates the facility will add $3.7
billion to the state’s economic output through 2025.
Peter Nichols, president of SNF Holding Co., said that while the
proximity of raw materials and the support of state and local
governments were important factors in choosing Louisiana and Iberville
Parish, the main factor was the quality of the labor pool and the
state’s commitment to work force training.
Nichols said the Plaquemine facility’s product will allow the company
to compete in markets that stretch from Alaska to South America, the
Middle East and China.
The plant, as Nichols put it, is SNF’s largest greenfield investment.
Jindal pledged that the state “will prove to you that this is the best
decision you ever made.” Nichols said SNF is committed to being
environmentally responsible.
“I can assure you we will not abuse the trust you have put in us,” he
said. |
