WESTLAKE — South Africa-based Sasol plans to spend up to $21 billion at its Westlake facility — the largest single manufacturing
investment in state history, officials said.
At a news conference Monday, Sasol
executives said they expect to spend $5-7 billion on a chemical plant
and eventually add
an $11-14 billion on a gas-to-liquids plant at the Westlake
facility. The projected costs recently rose by almost $6 billion
because the company decided to proceed without a partner and to
increase the number of chemicals and other products made at
the complex.
The company will continue with its plans for an integrated, gas-to-liquids facility and ethane cracker at its Westlake facility,
said Sasol CEO David Constable.
The facility will turn natural gas into
chemicals, diesel and other products. The facility, the first of its
kind in the country,
will produce 96,000 barrels of fuel per day, including GTL diesel.
Together, the gas-to-liquids facility and ethane cracker projects will create a minimum of 1,200 permanent positions, 7,000
construction jobs at peak time and thousands of indirect jobs in Louisiana and all over the country, Constable said.
“Sasol is proud to be driving forward
with the next phase of the strategic mega-projects that we have
announced today,” Constable
said. “We look forward to furthering our interests in the region,
and continuing our engagement with all our stakeholders.”
The GTL facility will be constructed in two phases. The first phase will be in operation by 2018 and the second phase in 2019.
In September 2011, Sasol announced it would begin feasibility studies to scope out the practicality of gas-to-liquids and
ethylene cracker facilities in Calcasieu Parish.
“Today we’re here to announce and talk
about a much larger project, a project representing a capital investment
of roughly
double the size of what we announced last year,” Gov. Bobby Jindal
said . “Once this project is fully up and running, Sasol
will become the largest economic driver company in all of
Southwest Louisiana, as well as one of the top 10 economic driver
companies in our entire state. It may be one of the largest
foreign direct investment manufacturing projects in the history
of the country.”
Jindal called the Sasol announcement a “game changer” for Louisiana’s future.
A final decision on the project and its cost will be announced in 2014.