BUSINESS BRIEF

Shell decides against new plant in Louisiana

12/6/2013

BATON ROUGE — Royal Dutch Shell has delivered a blow to Louisiana’s industrial boom, saying it is scrapping a proposal to build a $12.5 billion natural gas-to-liquids plant.

The company announced Thursday that it was suspending further work on the project, which would have created 740 direct jobs and thousands more in spinoff employment.

Shell said the project isn’t viable because of factors including high cost and uncertainty in long-term oil and gas prices.