Louisiana’s refineries process vast amounts of domestic crude oil — much of it from the offshore U.S. Gulf — along with barrels imported from Canada, Venezuela and other countries. The refineries also play a critically important role in supplying gasoline, diesel and jet fuel to the Southeastern U.S. and the Mid-Atlantic states, as well as lubricants and other specialty products nationwide. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss highlights from our new Drill Down Report on the 14 refineries in Louisiana (and two more just across the state line in Southern Arkansas), the pipelines that deliver crude oil to them, and crude oil balances in the Bayou State’s three refining regions.

When it comes to crude oil and refining, Texas gets most of the attention, and for good reason. It’s #1 in oil production, refining capacity, and exports of both crude and refined products. But don’t forget about Louisiana. While it’s not a Texas-sized oil producer, ranking only #10 if you count onshore and near-shore production (and #3 if you add production from the federally controlled deepwater Gulf), Louisiana’s #2 in refining, crude oil exports and refined products exports. The state is also home to some of the world’s largest and most technologically complex refineries, with the ability to break down vast amounts of heavy and medium oils into highly valuable gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.

School of Energy 2026

Build your energy market expertise at the 20th School of Energy: Foundations. 

Learn from RBN experts, participate in hands-on Excel modeling, connect with industry peers, and gain a stronger understanding of today's interconnected energy markets.

September 9-10 | Houston, TX 

And, as we said in the introduction, refined product end users from Mississippi to Florida to New York City get a substantial share of their gasoline, diesel and jet fuel from refiners in Louisiana, many of which are tied into either the 2.5-MMb/d Colonial Pipeline, which runs to Northern New Jersey, or the 660-Mb/d Products (SE) Pipeline — formerly known as the Plantation Pipeline — which runs to Northern Virginia.

Given Louisiana’s outsized role, it’s important to understand where the state’s refineries — and a couple of smaller refineries in Southern Arkansas — source their crude oil, how that crude is delivered to the refineries, and how capital investments in oil pipelines and the refineries themselves have been impacting crude oil flows into, across and out of the state. That’s the aim of RBN’s newly released Drill Down Report, which discusses in some detail the pipelines that transport crude oil to Louisiana refineries from the offshore Gulf; from Houston and Nederland, TX; and from the hub in Longview, TX, the last of which feeds oil to refineries in Northwestern Louisiana and Southern Arkansas.

The report also groups the 16 refineries in our study area into three refining regions — see the three black ovals and pink-, blue- and green-shaded tables in Figure 1 below — explains how oil reaches them, and provides detailed crude oil balances for each.

Three Groups of Louisiana (and Southern Arkansas) Refineries

Join Backstage Pass to Read Full Article

About the song

“Jambalaya (On the Bayou)” was written by Hank Williams and Moon Mullican. Williams started writing the song after hearing Cajuns on the tour bus for the Hadacol Caravan, which Williams was featured in, commenting on how they missed Cajun cooking. The melody of the song is based on the Cajun song “Grand Texas.” Williams recorded the song at Castle Studio in Nashville in June 1952. Personnel on the record were: Hank Williams (vocals, acoustic guitar), Chet Atkins (lead guitar), Chuck Wright (bass), Jerry Rivers (fiddle), and Don Helms (steel guitar). Released as a 78 RPM single in July 1952, it went to #1 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart and remained there for 14 weeks. The song has appeared on numerous Hank Williams compilation albums. Many artists have covered the song, including Jo Stafford, Brenda Lee, Fats Domino, and The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. John Fogerty, under the name The Blue Ridge Rangers, released his version as a single in April 1973; it went to #16 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart.

Hank Williams was an American country music singer, songwriter and musician. He is regarded as one of the most influential progenitors of the genre. When Hank sang a song, America listened. Born in Alabama, he learned guitar from blues musician Rufus Payne. Williams began his career playing in Montgomery-area venues and on local radio stations. He put out his first single, “Never Again,” on Sterling Records in January 1947, and signed a recording contract with MGM Records later that year. He released 12 studio albums, eight live albums, 25 compilation albums and 71 singles and has sold over 40 million records worldwide. Williams is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Williams died of heart failure in the backseat of an Olympic Blue 1952 Cadillac convertible en route to a show in Canton, OH, on January 1, 1953. He was 29 years old.

Music URL

"About the Song" -- written by Mickey McMahan , RBN Director of Musicology