BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A new $12.5 million plant is planned for southwest Louisiana, as the anchor tenant of a rail terminal.

Gov. John Bel Edwards announced Tuesday that Lacassine Operating Company will build a catalyst blending plant that will serve oil refineries at the Lacassine Rail Terminal in Jefferson Davis Parish. The terminal is on Interstate 10, halfway between New Orleans and Houston.

Lacassine Operating says the plant will create 40 new jobs with an average salary of nearly $46,000, plus benefits.

The governor's office says Lacassine Operating is a newly formed partner company of Equilibrium Catalyst, which has worked with Louisiana's oil refineries for years. Its facilities blend and process material for use by refineries.

The state is giving Lacassine Operating worker training assistance and tax breaks for the project.

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