Construction on the Juniper GTL plant in Westlake will start next week, as workers begin planning foundations for the $100 million petrochemical facility.

Richard Design Services of Beaumont, Texas, the project’s engineering, procurement and design contractor, will bring in concrete workers to survey the land and begin installing foundations, said James Davis, senior vice president of SGC Energia, the project’s parent company, based in Houston.

“Richard has some of the basic materials we need like concrete and rebar and structural steel on order,” Davis said. “We believe that’s pretty important because of the perceived amount of work that’s being planned for Southwest Louisiana. We wanted to make sure we got first in line.”

Davis said Richard will hire tradesmen, including painters and insulation workers, on a subcontractor basis.

Juniper is expected to hire 26 full-time workers, including engineers, operators supervisors maintenance people, next spring. Once full-time hiring is complete, Davis said, the company will begin its training program for new employees.

The facility’s full-time jobs are expected to pay an average annual salary of $85,000, plus benefits.

The new plant will produce about 1,100 barrels a day of diesels, waxes and naphtha on a site formally owned by Praxair, which sold equipment and the land to Juniper in June 2013.

The company will refurbish a steam methane reformer, which will convert natural gas into synthesis gas, a combination of hydrogen and carbon monoxide that is used to make products such as methanol and ammonia.

The refurbishment will begin between January and February, Davis said, adding that all of the engineering on the reformer has been done and its new parts have been ordered.

Construction on Juniper GTL is expected to end in November 2015, Davis said. “It’s an aggressive date, but very doable,” he said. A transition ceremony will be held on site before the end of the year to celebrate the beginning of the plant’s construction.

Davis said people will see the plant begin to take shape early next year. “That’s when steel will start to pop up,” he said. “That’s when you’re really going to start to see stuff happen.”

SGC Energia will share Juniper GTL’s ownership with the Houston-based Great Northern Project Development, a construction and project management firm, and Calumet Specialty Product Partners, an independent producer of specialty hydrocarbons based in Indianapolis.(American Press Archives)

Rick Hickman