Wow, It Never Quits -- Update Of The Sasol Complex Near Lake Charles, LA -- August 26, 2016

Does anyone remember this post from December, 2012?

December 4, 2012: Link to Oil & Gas Journal.

Sasol will proceed with front-end engineering and design for an integrated gas-to-liquids plant and ethane cracker with downstream derivatives at the company’s site near Lake Charles, LA.

The GTL plant will be the first of its kind in the US and produce 4 million tonnes/year (tpy; 96,000 b/d) of transportation fuel, including GTL diesel and other chemicals.

Sasol’s own feasibility study proposed the Louisiana plant produce GTL diesel, GTL naphtha, LPG, GTL base oils, paraffin, linear alkyl benzene, and medium and hard wax. 

Sasol estimates current project costs for the plant at $11-14 billion. The project will be delivered in two phases, each consisting of 48,000 b/d. The first phase is to begin operations in 2018, the second in 2019.

We now have an update.

Sasol Ltd. has completed a detailed review of its integrated ethane cracker and downstream derivatives complex under construction in Westlake, LA, near Lake Charles, the results of which confirm a $2.1-billion increase in costs from the company’s original estimate of $8.9 billion at the time of reaching final investment decision (FID) on the project in October 2014.

Initiated in March, the review—which involved verifying details and quantities of about 60,000 individual line items based on actual costs, detailed engineering, benchmarking against other projects, as well as actual field construction productivity factors—indicates a revised overall capital cost of $11 billion for the Lake Charles Chemicals Project (LCCP), including site infrastructure and utility improvements, Sasol said.