ST. JAMES PARISH - A year of unprecedented change, and losses, is ending with the shutdown of a Louisiana plant that supplied 700 jobs to area citizens and had an economic impact of over $18,000,000 on St. James Parish in 2017.

According to The Advocate, the Shell oil refinery in Convent is expected to complete its shutdown by the close of Sunday, Dec. 13, which is when it will begin removing inventories of oil, chemicals and other materials.

That said, the majority of employees will continue to work in the facility through the end of February. The Advocate says, at that point, the first batch of workers who haven't found work elsewhere within the company will be begin to be laid off.

The Advocate goes on to report that a second group of employees will go at the end of March and the remainder over 2021.

Shell has also finalized negotiations with the plant's union, which represents about 400 of nearly 700 Shell workers, for severance packages, company officials told The Advocate.

The company's executives struggled to find a buyer for the standalone refinery, and eventually decided it was in the company's best interest to simply shut down operations and close the location. 

Parish leaders and residents were informed of this decision in November, and for many, it came as a shock. 

But, eager to move forward, St. James officials are already developing plans to find other ways to boost the Parish's economy.

"It been a great plant with great people, and it's a painful thing to do, but we're hoping to find a lot of folks jobs and, hopefully, we sell the plant, too," said Allen Pertuit, the Convent refinery's general manager, in a recent interview.

The Advocate reports that Pertuit spoke with members of the St. James Parish School Board about the planned closure last month.

The school system intends to ask voters to refinance and extend the schools' long-term debt and shift a portion of the property taxes that pay for that debt toward operations, school officials said. They also noted that doing so would not require a tax hike.

David Dismukes, executive director of the LSU Center for Energy Studies, explained to The Advocate that the shutdown of the Shell refinery marks the beginning of a broader change in the oil sector as major energy companies embark on a vision centered on a "net zero" carbon future.

They're moving towards this goal for several reasons, some of which are related to the COVID health crisis and its depressing impact on oil demand.

But Dismukes says one of the biggest reasons for the shut down is that institutional investors who finance the energy sector want to see companies like Shell advancing toward carbon reductions.

"It boils down to finances. These guys have a tough time raising financing from Wall Street if they're not meeting net zero carbon goals," Dismukes said.

Shell's intention to focus on greener, lower carbon energy sources, like hydrogen or biofuels, and an emphasis on chemicals production would necessitate major reductions from customers who use the oil's major products, like gasoline.

Pertuit said the decision to close Convent kept those 2050 goals in mind while focusing on where to direct limited investment capital.

"And if you've got a strategy that's taking you to (net) zero emissions by 2050, then you need to make it happen, right? It's a cold, grim reality, and it's painful -- and I hate to be a casualty of that strategy, but it is a strategy," said Pertuit.

While some local leaders privately suggested it was hard for them to believe a buyer wouldn't emerge eventually, Pertuit said Shell is not currently in negotiation with any suitor and is likely to spend the first quarter of 2021 working on preserving the site, potentially for the next few years, as the company tries to market the complex for sale, The Advocate reports.

Meanwhile, the St. James school system plans a public hearing 5:30 p.m. Jan. 26 in Lutcher about whether to put a measure to refinance its debt on the ballot next year.