Nucor Steel Louisiana
Large load · 8325 LA HWY 3125, Convent, LA
Nucor Steel Louisiana is a direct reduced iron plant at Convent in St. James Parish, on the Mississippi River about 60 miles north of New Orleans. Nucor dedicated the $750 million first phase in March 2014 as the first of a potential five-phase project, and the plant has an annual capacity of 2.5 million tons of DRI. It is a customer of Entergy Louisiana and sits among the Louisiana industrial customers that intervene together in that utility's demand response proceedings. ExxonMobil now captures and stores CO2 from the plant.
Overview
Governor Bobby Jindal and Nucor chairman and CEO John Ferriola dedicated the completed plant in March 2014. The $750 million facility began operating in late December 2013 and was the first of a potential five-phase project that Nucor said could reach $3.4 billion of investment and 1,250 direct jobs if fully built. A 2023 petition to EPA describes it as the largest HYL DRI plant in the world and the only one operating in the United States, with an annual production capacity of 2.5 million tons of DRI.
Profile
- Entergy Louisiana service and demand response
- Nucor Steel Louisiana LLC is a member of the Louisiana Energy Users Group, a trade association of Louisiana industrial concerns that includes Dow, ExxonMobil, Olin, Westlake and others. In June 2025 the group intervened in Entergy Louisiana's application for approval of demand response programs and cost recovery (LPSC Docket U-37595), stating that its member companies include direct and substantial customers of Entergy Louisiana.
- Carbon capture and permit review
- ExxonMobil announced in September 2026 that it had started capturing, transporting and storing CO2 from the Convent DRI facility, a project of up to 800,000 metric tons of CO2 per year. In December 2023 Louisiana environmental groups petitioned EPA to object to the plant's proposed Title V operating permit from the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality.
Facility
- Activity
- Direct reduced iron (DRI) for steelmaking, 2.5 million tons per year of capacity
- Industry
- Manufacturing
- Site type
- Facility
- Operating status
- Operating
Related records
Timeline
- Mar 3, 2014
- Nucor and the State of Louisiana dedicate the completed first-phase DRI plant
Gov. Jindal And Nucor CEO John Ferriola Mark Completion Of Direct Reduced Iron Plant In Louisiana - LED | Louisiana Economic Development
- Jul 1, 2025
- Intervention deadline in Entergy Louisiana demand response docket U-37595, where the Louisiana Energy Users Group (including Nucor Steel Louisiana) files a notice of intervention
lpscpubvalence.lpsc.louisiana.gov
- Sep 21, 2026
- ExxonMobil begins storing CO2 captured at the Convent DRI facility
Lower-carbon steel and permanent storage CCS expands across the Gulf Coast - Cyprus Shipping News