In sharply changing energy world, Louisiana, Gulf Coast expected to see big investment

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With rising global demand, Louisiana's growing energy sector is expected to try to balance continuing fossil fuel-based production and worldwide exports against decarbonizing industrial and energy operations through the end of 2027, LSU researchers said Friday.

In trying to meet those twin goals, Louisiana will continue to see investment in energy and manufacturing, as LSU researchers assume that major shifts in trade policy and clean energy subsidies won't happen under the incoming Trump administration but easing of restrictions on new oil and gas development will.

By 2030, the Gulf Coast region of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama could see as much as $219 billion in liquefied natural gas investment, $151 billion for chemical and refining and other traditional industries, and $107 billion in energy transition projects, the LSU researchers found in their annual Gulf Coast Energy Outlook report.

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Louisiana's petrochemical sector is expected to have added 1,200 jobs by year's end and experience around 1% annual increases for the next three years, as billions in new investments are expected to continue.

But researchers with LSU's Center for Energy Studies noted that for the first time since the center began tracking, investments in energy transition projects were expected to surpass those dedicated to liquefied natural gas by as much as $1.8 billion in 2025. That margin will expand over the following two years.

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Louisiana industries are trying to find the most cost-effective ways to make low carbon products being sought by global markets.

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Greg Upton Jr., an LSU associate professor who leads the energy center, said he recently visited congressional offices in Washington, D.C.

He wanted to understand what the new administration and Congress might do with some of the Biden-era clean energy incentives through the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also called the "bipartisan infrastructure deal."

"And kind of the answer I got is that the leadership now is looking at quote 'taking a scalpel to the IRA' but not really knocking it down or redoing it completely," Upton said during a presentation on the annual report Friday.

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The LSU researchers also looked at the expected rise in electrical demand in the United States after years of flat growth. On the Gulf Coast, new manufacturing, new clean technology facilities and data centers are driving higher demand.

D. Andrew Owens, a retired Entergy regulatory research director who works as a fellow for the LSU center, said he has estimated that the new $10 billion Meta AI data center in north Louisiana will have the electrical consumption equivalent of as much as three cities of New Orleans.

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