ABiz

Halliburton builds 'super campus' in Iberia Parish

by Leslie Turk

ABiz has learned that the oilfield services giant has been quietly expanding on more than 100 acres near Acadiana Regional Airport.

Photo by Robin May

Work has been under way for months on a major Halliburton project in Iberia Parish near the Acadiana Regional Airport, but Halliburton has yet to announce what's planned for the 103-acre site.

ABiz has learned that oilfield services giant Halliburton is laying the foundation for a "super campus" in Iberia Parish near the Acadiana Regional Airport. While infrastructure work has been well under way on the more than 100-acre site for months, Halliburton has yet to publicly announce the project.

Houston-based Halliburton purchased the land, a flat, rectangular tract between Hwy. 182 and W. Admiral Doyle Drive (across from Spanish Lake) about a year ago from three different landowners. The transaction was brokered by Beau Box.

Beau Box Vice President Monty Warren referred ABiz to Halliburton for details about the project.

Iberia Economic Development Authority President and CEO Mike Tarantino also referred ABiz to Halliburton, saying he is not authorized to discuss details of the project at this time. Tarantino, however, did confirm that the company is planning a major manufacturing and operations facility that will be built in phases. He says 300 jobs will be created in the first year.

Halliburton's Houston office asked that ABiz's questions about the project be emailed to its public relations department. Those questions, sent late Tuesday afternoon, were not immediately answered.

ABiz was unable to determine what Halliburton operations will locate at the new facility and whether it involves a consolidation of offices from the Acadiana area and beyond. Sources tell ABiz that surging deepwater Gulf of Mexico activity was a key factor in Halliburton's decision to construct the super campus in Iberia Parish.

This rectangular tract (traced in yellow) shows where Halliburton is constructing its new Iberia Parish campus.

In April 2011 Halliburton announced that it would build a manufacturing facility on Pont des Mouton Road, across from Northpark Technology Center. The company selected north Lafayette over a pool of state and international competitors. Halliburton said at the time it was investing $65 million in the project.

For some perspective on the scale of the Iberia Parish project, which is locating on more than 100 acres, consider that Halliburton's north Lafayette complex is part of a 40-acre site purchased from Lafayette businessman Larry Leger. Read more here.

At the time of the 2011 announcement, Halliburton said it employed 863 people in Lafayette Parish, about 1,200 in Acadiana and almost 3,000 throughout the state. Its nearly 75,000 employees work in 80 countries.

Founded in 1919, Halliburton is one of the world's largest providers of products and services to the oil and gas industry.