MiNERALS YEARBOOK, 1967376 
 
waters already brackish. The prime purpose of the order was to halt the use
of salt water pits. The order prohibits disposal of oilfield wastes Into
streams, lakes, and ditches which lead to other bodies of water. 
 "Capline," a 640-mile, 40-inch crude oil pipeline from Donaldsonville to
the Wood River-Patoka, Ill., area, was under construction at yearend. The
line initially will carry about 417,000 barrels per day and ultimately the
capacity will be 1,080,000 barrels per day. This will be the largest crude-oil
line built in the United States. Most of the crude will come from southern
and offshore Louisiana. Several major companies have lines converging in
the Donaldsonville area near the Capline originating station; others will
be built. Efforts will be made to complete the line and begin operation as
soon as possible, but near-torrential rains virtually stopped construction
at yearend. 
 Refineries.—At yearend, 16 petroleum refineries were operating in
Louisiana. Crude oil capacity (barrels per calendar day) totaled 1,111,070,
a gain of approximately 186,920 barrels over that of 1966. Crude oil processed
in State refineries totaled 364.3 million barrels (36.7 million barrels more
than in 1966) and represented about 47 percent of the crude oil production
in the State. 
 Gulf Oil Corp.'s new natural gas, gas liquids, and condensate processing
plant near Venice started production in June. This refinery, the first in
the United States designed only for natural gas liquids treatment, can process
20,000 barrels of crude condensate per day. Output is 85 percent gasoline,
50 percent higher than the industry average. Principal source of natural
gas and condensate processed was West Delta area Block 27 field, southeast
of the refinery, and 11 miles offshore in the Gulf of Mexico. The refinery
section of the complex consists of a crude unit, two hydrocrackers, and two
catalytic reformers. The product is stored underground. Six caverns were
excavated by solution mining from the nearby Venice salt dome to store propane,
normal butane, isobutane, natural gasoline, condensate, and raw gas liquids.

 Texaco Inc. began production in July at its new 100,000-barrel-per-day refinery
at Convent on the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans.
The plant has advantages of water transportation, rail connections, and a
location be- 
tween the crude supply point and Colonial Pipelines products line. A new
18-inch line brings crude from Houma to the plant; a new 54-mile, 16-inch
line connects storage at Baton Rouge to the Colonial Pipeline. Processing
provided for high gasoline yields, along with middle distillates and residual
fuels. No hydrocracker was included in this initial building program, however.
All plant process and storm water was sent to a waste disposal plant. Quality
of the effluent to the Mississippi River was better than that required by
pollutioncontrol agencies. Nearly 5 million barrels of storage capacity was
provided by 44 atmospheric tanks. Three washed out salt dome caverns near
Sorrento provided additional storage. 
 Good Hope Refinery, Inc., began reporting production in June. Average throughput
was about 5,000 barrels per day. 
 Humble Oil & Refining Co. at Baton Rouge raised crude capacity to 424,000
barrels per stream day, expanded vacuum capacity, fluid cat cracking, sulfuric
acid alkylation, and began expansion of the reformer section. 
 Tenneco Oil Co. at Chalmette was expanding crude capacity to 75,000 barrels
per stream day and vacuum capacity to 20,000 barrels per stream day; a platformer,
Isomax hydrocracker, coke facilities, and BTX unit will be added. 
 On August 8, an explosion and fire occurred at the Cities Service Oil Co.
refinery at Lake Charles. Two alkylation units and a residual-fuel coking
unit were severely damaged. Other facilities received only minor damage and
there was no damage to any of the petrochemical or lube-oil facilities in
the complex. Repairs were essentially completed by yearend and the refinery
was processing a volume of crude equal to about 90 percent of the volume
processed before the explosion. 
 Petrochemicals.—The fastest growing segment of the State's manufacturing
economy was the petrochemical industry. The economic impact of these petroleumderived
chemicals affected every part of the State. The petrochemical industry continued
to grow in 1967, although the growth rate was somewhat retarded by labor-management
disputes, especially in the Baton Rouge area. 
 At Geismar, Allied Chemical Corp. completed a plant to produce 1,000 tons