- Overview
- Regional Overview
- Vital Statistics
- Demographics
- Labor Force
- Utilities
- Quality of Life
- Regulations & Permits
- Education/Training
- Taxes
- Incentives
- Transportation
- Businesses/Industries
- Contacts
- Real Estate
- Targeted Industries
Petroleum Refining
Louisiana is the second largest refiner of petroleum in the U.S. The state has nineteen refineries, which produce lubricants and fuels, including 16.9 billion gallons (64 billion liters) of gasoline a year. The ExxonMobil refinery in Baton Rouge, with a capacity of 500,000 barrels of crude oil per day, is one of the largest refineries in the world.
Petrochemical Production
Louisiana's petrochemical industry manufactures one-quarter of America's petrochemicals, including basic chemicals, plastics, and fertilizers. Annual production by the nearly 100 petrochemical facilities operating in the state is valued at more than $19.6 billion. The Baton Rouge region is home to approximately 65 of these petrochemical facilities, many of which are located along the Mississippi river.
ExxonMobil manufactures ten billion pounds of petrochemicals annually at its complex of facilities, located on 150 acres in Baton Rouge, including olefins, aromatics, plasticizers, alcohols, acids, oxygenated fluids, higher olefins, phthalic anhydride, synthetic rubber, and escorez hydrocarbon resins. It also operates a 118-acre plastics plant in Baton Rouge,which produces polyethylene, polyethylene copolymers, and exact plastomers.
Dow Chemical operates a 1,500 acre integrated facility in Iberville and West Baton Rouge Parishes, with 23 production units manufacturing more than 50 different basic and specialty chemical products. Dow is the largest employer in Iberville and West Baton Rouge parishes, employing more than 3,000 people.
The Shell Chemical facility in Geismar, Louisiana (Ascension Parish) manufactures alpha olefins, detergent alcohols, alcohol ethoxylates, plasticizer alcohols, ethylene oxide, ethylene glycols, and 1,3-propaneidiol. These chemicals are used to make personal care products, soaps, shampoos, and household cleaning products.
BASF’s Geismar site produces a wide range of industrial chemicals that are used as catalysts and intermediates in the manufacture of hundreds of everyday consumer items. The Geismar site is currently undergoing a $1 billion expansion.
Natural Resources
Louisiana's natural resources include 11 percent of U.S. petroleum reserves and 19 percent of the country's reserves of natural gas. It’s also the largest producer of salt in America and a major producer of sulphur, lime, and silica sands. In addition, Louisiana has an estimated 310-330 million tons of lignite. The total value of all mineral production in the state is the second highest in the U.S.
Forest Resources
Louisiana's mild climate and abundant rainfall give it one of the fastest tree-growing cycles in North America. Louisiana has 13.8 million acres of hardwood and softwood forests that support a large pulp and paper industry and the production of pine plywood and lumber for construction. The state is also a major manufacturer of linerboard, Kraft paper, and fine papers.
General Manufacturing
Louisiana's general manufacturing sector includes maritime, military, barge, and recreational vessel shipbuilding, light truck assembly, aerospace and aviation facilities, automobile equipment manufacturing, food processing, and apparel manufacturing.
Seafood Industry
Louisiana's fishing industry is the second largest in America, accounting for 26 percent of all seafood landed in the country. Only Alaska's fishery is larger. The catch includes oysters, crab, shrimp, menhaden, redfish, shark, and butterfish. Crawfish and catfish are harvested from specially-developed freshwater farms. The state's inland and deep-sea sports fishing are considered some of the best
in the U.S.
According to the report, “Economic Importance of Hunting in America,” Louisiana ranked tenth in hunting-related retail sales for 2001. (International Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies, December 2002)
Film Production and Video Gaming Industries
The Louisiana Motion Picture Incentive Program, passed by the state legislature in 2002, resulted in a 600 percent increase in film production in the state in just one year. The incentives make filming in Louisiana less expensive than more traditional locations such as California, and the state’s mild climate and natural beauty provide near-perfect conditions for making movies.
To further support the growth of the film industry, film industry training programs are now being offered at local community colleges. In addition, a 30,000 square foot facility under construction in Baton Rouge will include sound stages and space for production and post-production of movies, television shows, and video games. Baton Rouge also hosts the annual Red Stick Animation Festival, attracting leading animation industry professionals, both local and international.
A similar package of incentives was passed in 2005 for the video-game industry, resulting in a surge of video gaming companies locating in the Baton Rouge area.
Agriculture
Louisiana is among the ten largest producers in the U.S. of cotton, sugar cane, yams, rice, and pecans. Other significant agricultural products include soybeans, beef cattle, maize, strawberries, and truck crops.
Tourism
Among Louisiana's best known attractions are its jazz music -- invented and first played here -- and its Cajun and Creole cuisines. Other Louisiana tourist attractions include outstanding hunting, freshwater and deepwater fishing, thousands of miles of rivers and bayous and hundreds of lakes for boating, water skiing and sailing, camping, hiking and canoeing, dozens of antebellum plantation homes, and hundreds of other historically significant sites.
Healthcare
Baton Rouge’s hospitals provide comprehensive inpatient and outpatient services to the community. Charity care is provided at Earl K. Long Hospital, which will likely be replaced with a new facility in the near future.
Summit Hospital is located just off I-12 in southeastern Baton Rouge, with 201 licensed beds and more than 200 physicians.
Woman’s Hospital was one of the first women’s specialty hospitals in the nation. Today, Woman’s delivers approximately 8,000 babies each year, making it the 16th largest delivery service in the country and the largest in the state of Louisiana.
Our Lady of the Lake Medical Center (OLOL) is the largest private medical center in the state. It serves about 25,000 people on an inpatient basis each year, and approximately 350,000 patients are served each year at OLOL’s many outpatient locations. OLOL has been named by Solucient as a Top 100 Hospital for Cardiology.
Baton Rouge General Medical Center has two locations in Baton Rouge. The hospital has recently teamed up with the Irene W. and C.B. Pennington Foundation to open a new state-of-the-art cancer center, which will be one of the first two sites in the world with the next generation of equipment and technology for cancer treatment. It is also recognized as a top-rated cardiology program (HealthGrades, 2006), and is home to the region’s only adult and pediatric burn center.
Source: Louisiana Economic Development
