Scotland-based Aggreko announced today that the company will expand its operations in New Iberia. Governor John Bel Edwards joined Aggreko Vice President of Operations Terry Dressel to tout the expansion that is expected to produce 30 new direct jobs and 30 new indirect positions in Acadiana. Iberia Parish Councilman Ricky Gonsulin said the expansion is part of Aggreko's consolidation efforts.
"Their technical people, their call center, their service ppl and a bunch of other areas will be re-located to their New Iberia location to consolidate some of their efforts to more efficiently operate out of a centralized location to service North America."
Aggreko, a provider of temporary energy solutions, will retain its 265 existing Acadiana jobs. Gonsulin said the Parish Council's efforts to eliminate the ad valorem taxes for local industries made the deal all the more sweeter for Aggreko.
"Iberia Parish Government just passed an industrial tax exemption to go ahead and relieve them of ad valorem taxes to help them offset some of their expansion costs in our parish."
Gonsulin said there are other industries and companies either re-opening or expanding within the parish, but many of them are not just oilfield related.
"Diversification is key," he said." We want to see the oilfield back, but at the same time, we need to diversify also."

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