St. James tank terminal announces $362 million expansion

NuStar Energy LP will expand its St. James Parish petroleum tank terminal from an 8 million barrel capacity to 11 million barrels, Gov. Bobby Jindal announced this afternoon.

The $365 million project is expected to be complete by 2016, company officials said.

The project will add 32 new jobs to the existing 28 jobs at the existing terminal on the west bank of St. James Parish. The new jobs will pay an average of $98,000 per year, company officials said.

""Today's announcement is great news for St. James Parish and our state, but our work is not done yet. In order to keep our economy growing, we must continue to aggressively pursue new job opportunities and we must improve our education system to make sure our people are prepared for jobs in the 21st century workforce." Jindal said in an appearance at the terminal with company workers in attendance.

To attract the NuStar investment, the stafe offered its Modernization Tax Credit, which provides a 5 percent refundable tas credit, worth $3 million to NuStar over a five-year period.

"The tax benefits that NuStar will realize as part of this project are just one example of how Louisiana and St. James Parish have helped NuStar's investments become a reality," said NuStar President and CEO Curt Anastasio.

"As a result of these incentives, we are investing a total of $505 million in our terminal, which will produce tremendous benefits for the Louisiana economy, including the creation of hundreds of jobs with great pay and benefits. These expansion projects also will give our customers much greater ability to move and store production from very significant crude oil discoveries throughout the U.S."