Launch of «Lacq Cluster Chimie 2030»: an exemplary redevelopment of the Lacq industrial basin

Total, SOBEGI (a Total and GDF-SUEZ subsidiary) and Arkema inaugurated the «Lacq Cluster Chimie 2030» (LCC30) project. LCC30 represents the culmination of many years of studies conducted by the three partners in order to put forward an exemplary industrial redevelopment of the site and establish the economic activity and employment in the Lacq region over the long term. The three partners will be investing 154 million euros (M€) to transform the Lacq industrial platform into a pole of excellence in fine chemicals and specialty chemicals. This investment has the backing of the State and of local authorities.

LCC30 will help extend over the next thirty years gas extraction in Lacq, at a lower flow rate, in order to supply energy and sulphur raw material to the players of the Lacq industrial platform.

The new facilities will be operational from mid-2013, before the shutdown of the commercial operation of the gas field anticipated by Total for December of that year. New equipment will be designed to supply the local chemical industry, in particular Arkema, with competitive gas, electricity, sulphur and energy (mostly steam). As a result, over one thousand jobs will be safeguarded in total. Eventually, LCC30 is designed to attract other manufacturing companies, of all sizes, which will be able to benefit, through SOBEGI, of the utilities and the competitiveness they need for their activities.

The investment is provided by SOBEGI (110 million euros), Arkema (36 million euros), and Total EP France (8 million euros). Hence the Total group’s contribution to the financing of the project amounts to 66 million euros, directly and as a shareholder of SOBEGI. The project has received some 6 million euros of state funding granted by OSEO as part of the « strategic industrial sectors » call for projects within the Programme d’Investissements d’Avenir, as well as the backing of local authorities.

Société Béarnaise de Gestion Industrielle - SOBEGI – manages the SEVESO platforms in Lacq and Mourenx (64), and as such is entirely dedicated to the performance of the manufacturers, in terms of infrastructures and logistics as well as the provision of a network of skills and expertise. SOBEGI supplies these manufacturers with the utilities they need to operate their manufacturing plants, including the steam produced by its boilers. SOBEGI’s prime objective is to address the concerns of its customers, and so it has made the supply of energy, the provision of services, as well as safety, quality and the environment its core competence. It employs 317 people. Its major shareholder is Total (60%), with the remaining interest held by COFELY GDF-SUEZ.

Total is one of the largest integrated oil and gas companies in the world, with activities in more than 130 countries. The Group is also a first rank player in chemicals. Its 96,000 employees put their expertise to work in every part of the industry – exploration and production of oil and natural gas, refining and marketing, new energies, trading, and chemicals. Total is working to help satisfy the global demand for energy, both today and tomorrow. In south-western France Total operates some 20 sites and facilities, with over 4000 employees. For over 30 years, Total has provided backing to over 1000 companies in the region, allowing the creation or the retention of over 32,000 jobs through measures put in place by Total Développement Régional (TDR).

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