A central piece of a closed crude oil refinery in Convent recently came crashing down as Shell Oil shifts the nearly 60-year-old complex toward making renewable fuels, company officials confirmed.

The cat cracker and cat cracker reactor structure were demolished in a planned takedown this past weekend that was captured on video and posted on social media.

A Shell spokesperson and the St. James Parish president confirmed the demolition this week after being informed of the video.

"This was part of Shell’s planned demolition exercise, and they have been communicating with the parish for quite some time now," Parish President Pete Dufresne said in a statement.

The video shows the familiar bulbous reactor vessel at the top of the cat cracker and another structure of entwined pipes coming

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