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Parish Economic Development Briefs Oil & Gas Louisiana’s Weekly Rotary Rig Count for the week ending January 6 th was 50, down 9 from one year ago. The land based count was 28 and the offshore rig count stood at 22. The U.S. rig count was 665, up one from one year ago. Meanwhile, first purchase price of Louisiana crude oil in October was $48.11 per barrel, up 64% from January. Natural gas prices are remaining relatively low and favorable for industrials. The October price for industrial purposes was $3.50 per MMBtu. Agriculture Crop production in 2016 was impacted by bad weather and low prices, statewide. Row crops most impacted were sugar cane, corn, soybeans, and grain sorghum. Employment Parish employment in November , the most recent available data, was 20,143, down 2,143 jobs from one year ago. The unemployment rate in November was 8.5%, down 1.4 points from July as the number of unemployed individuals seeking work declined by 478. Sales Tax Activity Parish gross sales tax collections in 2016 were $31.99 million, down 9.4% from 2015, a much improved rate compared to the 15.7% drop that occurred between 2014 and 2015. Business Activity The number of businesses visited by parish staff this past quarter was 15. The number of projects in the pipeline totaled 10 with the potential to create 160 permanent jobs, 500 construction jobs, and $300 million in new capital investment. 1 St. Mary Parish Office of Economic Development www.stmaryparishdevelopment.com Volume 5, Issue 1 January 2017 St. Mary Parish Economic Development News Frank’s Message “Trumptomistic ” describes the business world with their expectations of lower business taxes, less regulation and energy independence. Since the OPEC Production Agreement on Thanksgiving, with scheduled implementation in the 1 st quarter of 2017, the price of oil moved above $50/bbl. Forecasters believe that $60/bbl is achievable this year and some are hoping for $85/bbl by year-end. These forecasts depend on the Production Agreement holding and that worldwide demand will increase by 1.5 million bbls/day each year through 2022. US production from shale and shut in production platforms will increase at price levels above $60- $65/bbl. Cameron, a Schlumberger Company , signed two deals with Transocean to manage pressure control equipment in the Gulf of Mexico. The contracts are both for a 10 year period, valued at $350 million. Metal Shark expands its Franklin property. The company is building a 200’ x 80’ vessel assembly building and 4,000 sq. ft. office. The new facility enables Metal Shark to build vessels up to 180’. The company will be receiving a 160 ton travel lift this month. Expansion will be complete in the 2 nd quarter of 2017. Metal Shark will increase employment from 65 to 100 as a result. St. Mary Parish is preparing for the turnaround, posting excellent results in the public school and technical college systems . The St. Mary Parish School System placed 17 th out of 72 districts, achieving the highest B, 99.2 just .8 below an A school district at 100. “The A District mark will be exceeded in 2017”, according to School Superintendent, Leonard Armato. The Patterson High School moved into the A school rankings. The Patterson Junior High School construction is well underway with completion scheduled in 2018. The South Central Louisiana Technical College System , including Young Memorial in Morgan City ranked 3 rd nationwide, among 2 year colleges in issuing 3,616 one year certificates. The Young Memorial $4 million Marine Campus will open this month. The Marine School offers more than 20 Coast Guard certifications, commercial diving (among top 3 schools) and captain/ mate training on a $750,000 simulator. The college has been awarded a $7.9 million contract to lead work in Louisiana and nationwide to build a transportation industry apprentice program. The contract was one of 14 issued by the US Department of Labor as part of a $90 million funding strategy to grow registered apprenticeships nationwide.
