Contrary to Shell's announcement last week that they have decided to shelve their proposed 140,000 barrels per day GTL facility in Louisiana, Sasol continues its plan to build an integrated, 96,000 b/d gas-to-liquids (GTL) facility at its Lake Charles site in southwest Louisiana to make diesel, lubricant base oil and other refined products. The estimated project cost of Sasol's planned GTL facility is between US$11 billion and US$14 billion.
Russell Johnson, Director, Public Affairs, Sasol, told OEM/Lube News "We continue to view our proposed GTL facility in Louisiana as a very attractive opportunity as we advance it through the front end engineering and design phase".
The Lake Charles plant will be second in size only to Shells Pearl GTL project, which is capable of producing 140,000 b/d of GTL products, including 28,000 b/d lube base oil. The largest plant in operation, Royal Dutch Shells giant Pearl plant in Qatar, cost $19 billion to build
In December 2012, Johannesburg, South Africa-based Sasol announced its intention to build a GTL facility adjacent to its existing site near Westlake, La. Using Sasols proven, proprietary technology, the proposed facility will convert abundant domestic natural gas into more than 96,000 barrels per day of GTL diesel and other products. The phased projects will, together, create a minimum of 1200 permanent positions, 5 000 construction jobs at peak and thousands of indirect jobs both in Louisiana and in the rest of the US.
Sasol announced on November 25 that it has selected Technip as the primary contractor for the front-end engineering and design (FEED) phase of its proposed gas-to-liquids (GTL) facility in Louisiana.
The selection of Technip as FEED contractor is a milestone in the advancement of our GTL facility, said Johan du Preez, executive vice president of U.S. mega projects for Sasol. With experience as the execution contractor for our ORYX GTL plant in Qatar, and the primary FEED contractor for our proposed GTL plant in Uzbekistan, Technip has the expertise to help us deliver this first-of-its-kind project for the United States.
Sasol expects to conclude the FEED phase 18 -24 months after FID on the ethane cracker and derivatives complex, which is anticipated in 2014, and reach final investment decision for the GTL project in 2016.
Established in 1950 in South Africa, Sasol, is an international integrated energy and chemicals company employing more than 35 000 people working in 37 countries, including the Sasol North American Operations in Houston, TX. The company develops and commercializes technologies, and builds and operates world-scale facilities, to produce a range of product streams, including liquid fuels, chemicals and electricity.
