Bagwell Energy Services is expanding its Port of Delcambre fabrication center in Iberia Parish, investing $2.5 million and adding 150 new jobs in the next five years.
The company is located on the Iberia Parish side of the Twin Parish Port District of Iberia and Vermilion parishes, also known as the Port of Delcambre. There, Bagwell Energy is expanding its services to the chemical manufacturing and liquefied natural gas processing industries, as well as serving its offshore and onshore oil and gas customers.
The expansion will add precision fabrication equipment for process industry piping and vessels, install new bridge cranes, and build a 15,000-square-foot addition to Bagwell Energy’s fabrication center and a 4,000-square-foot addition to its painting-and-blasting facility. The project will retain 46 existing jobs while creating 150 new direct jobs with an average annual salary of $74,000, plus benefits. In addition, Louisiana Economic Development estimates the project will result in 240 new indirect jobs, for a total of 390 new jobs in Acadiana and surrounding regions.
Roots of the company trace back nearly 40 years, when Bagwell Energy Services built its fabrication business at a La. 14 location, then expanded in the mid-1990s as a Port of Delcambre tenant with new manufacturing space and a slip terminal on the Delcambre Canal that leads to Vermilion Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. There, much of Bagwell Energy’s work supported offshore oil and gas production. After selling its assets to the Shaw Group 20 years ago, original owners Coleman and Rodger Bagwell led a buyout of the Port of Delcambre operations from Shaw Group successor McDermott in 2018. Bagwell Energy Services now targets chemical industry and LNG projects in a diversification strategy, as it also provides project support offshore and onshore in Texas, Louisiana and upper Midwest states.
“We are excited to be back at home in the Twin Parish Port,” says CEO Rodger Bagwell, who previously served as president and CEO of Rotocraft Leasing Company and helped build that Broussard-based transport company from a fleet of 15 helicopters to 150. “With this area’s experienced energy-related workforce, our waterfront facility and the investment into technical equipment, we have the competitive edge to succeed.”
Incentives offered by Louisiana include a $250,000 performance-based Economic Development Award to offset infrastructure improvements at the site, plus LED FastStart assistance. The company is also expected to utilize the state’s Quality Jobs Program.
“Bagwell Energy Services is exactly what we need right now at the Port of Delcambre: a respected growing company,” says Iberia Parish President M. Larry Richard. “I couldn’t be happier to see Bagwell back in Delcambre. We are certain that great businesses like this continuing to locate here will go a long way to grow and diversify economic opportunities for our citizens, and I appreciate the Bagwell family’s decision to invest in Iberia Parish.”
At its Iberia Parish manufacturing site, Bagwell Energy completes piping and vessel fabrication orders; builds production equipment, skids and modular enclosures for remote exploration and production sites; and performs blasting, painting and hydrostatic testing services. Bagwell Energy also dispatches trained crews to install, maintain and repair equipment at customer production sites.
Bagwell Energy owns 28 acres—including its fabrication and office facilities—in the Twin Parish Port District. The company leases additional space for its hydrostatic, blasting and painting operations, as well as the marine terminal slip it developed in conjunction with the port.
