2015 list reflects St. Charles Parish’s business climate
Entergy Louisiana Inc. continued to rank as St. Charles Parish’s largest company with $183.6 million in assets that include a substantial system and nuclear facilities.
This year’s Top 50 list, produced by the parish Tax Assessor’s Office, shows Entergy consistently topping the parish’s 10 largest companies.
The energy provider ranked No. 1 on a list that also included major oil and gas companies, including Union Carbide Corp., Motiva Enterprises, Shell Chemical Co., Valero Marketing & Supply, Monsanto Co., and Occidental Chemical Corp. (listed twice for physical facilities and inventory) that also have consistently ranked among the parish’s companies with most assets (physical plant and/or inventory) in the parish.
While these companies have remained solidly as the parish’s largest companies, parish Tax Assessor Tab Troxler said this year’s list has shown more movement than he’s seen since his office started ranking the companies three years ago.
“The big thing that concerns me are changes to tax policy – and the inventory tax is the main concern,” Troxler said of companies shifting positions on the list that he attributes to changes in inventory. “Most of the changes we had on the list come back down to the inventory”
The inventory being oil and the many companies that store it in the parish are the issue, particularly when its value has taken a sizeable blow from oil plummeting to around $40 a barrel. Also, state legislators are whittling down an inventory tax credit.
With St. Charles Parish being the second largest collector of inventory tax in Louisiana, officials are already bracing for the impact of a 25 percent cut in the state’s tax credit or reimbursement to the companies that pay it on the local level.
While some of these companies have no physical facilities in the parish, many of them store millions of dollars worth of inventory such as oil and diesel in facilities in the area, Troxler said. For example, BP Products North America is on the parish’s list at $5.4 million, but the company only stores oil at the International Matex Tank Terminal, he said. BP moved to No. 22 on the list, up from No. 30 last year.
Other companies also advanced on this year’s list, including Diamond Green Diesel, owned by Darling Ingredients Inc.; Archer-Daniels-Midland Co., Discovery Producer Services, Glencore Ltd. and Koch Nitrogen Co.
But Troxler said plummeting oil value could have also pushed some companies down the list.
Taking a six-place drop to No. 25, Vitol Inc. markets crude oil and oil products; oil giant Shell Chemical Co. dropped eight places to No. 28; Phillips 66 Co., an energy company, fell 17 places to No. 42; Davison Petroleum Supply slid eight places to No. 44, and Gulf South Pipeline Co. dropped 19 spots to No. 48 on the list.
The shift also made way for newcomers to the parish’s top companies: Tric-C Resources, an energy company; Parkway Pipeline, a 50-50 joint venture between Kinder Morgan and Valero Energy Corp. transporting refined petroleum products from refineries in Norco to a hub in Collins, Miss., owned by Plantation Pipe Line Co.; Glazer’s Distribution of LA, which sells and distributes alcoholic beverages; Castex Energy Inc., an oil and gas company in exploration and production; Square Mile Energy, an energy exploration company, and Penn Maritime, a marine transportation company for the petroleum industry owned by Kirby Corp., also joined the top companies this year.
Also, Randa Accessories Leather Goods, which produces men’s accessories, made joined this year’s list.
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