Are We Underestimating North America's Fracking Boom? -- WSJ

Front page story of section 2 -- all about Sasol in Louisiana.

This is a huge story. Don first introduced me to Sasol, maybe two or three years ago, and periodically it shows up on my radar again. From the WSJ:

It's the tale of a company called Sasol,  the former South African state oil company, which is embarking on what could be the single-largest foreign investment project in U.S. history.

Sasol is building a 3,034-acre energy complex near a bayou in Lake Charles, LA. Tapping into cheap, fracked natural gas as well as the pipeline and shipping infrastructure along the Gulf Coast, Sasol plans to spend as much as $21 billion there.

It is expensive, elaborate and dirty work. Sasol plans to reduce, or "crack," the gas into ethylene, a raw chemical used in plastics, paints and food packaging. It also plans to convert the gas into high-quality diesel and other fuels, using a process once advanced by Nazi scientists to power Panzer tanks. The state of Louisiana is even kicking in $2 billion of incentives to make it happen.