The final barrels of fuel and refined oil products will leave the Shell Oil Convent Refinery sometime over the weekend.
After the last revenue refining is performed workers will start emptying tanks of oil, fuel and chemicals.
Anything related to the refining of product will be removed from their tanks and then capped.
The refinery which has served as the lifeline for St. James Parish for half century, employing armies of workers and supporting their families will cease operation.
For the immediately future, Convent will be in mothballs.
Shell has been trying to find a buyer for Convent, but has been unsuccessful so far.
"It been a great plant with great people, and it's a painful thing to do, but we're hoping to find a lot of folks jobs and, hopefully, we sell the plant, too," said Allen Pertuit, the Convent refinery's general manager, in a recent interview the Times Picayune/New Orleans Advocate.
As employees start leaving for other Shell properties and operations, those who have not found new positions with the company will face being laid off some time in February and others by the end of March.
Pertuit says 400 unionized employees at Convent will receive severance packages when their time comes.
