Sasol Ltd. (Johannesburg, South Africa; www.sasol.co.za) announced today that it has selected Technip S.A. (Paris; www.technip.com) 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. megaprojects 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."
In December 2012, Sasol announced its intention to build a GTL facility adjacent to its existing site near Westlake, La. Using Sasol’s 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 valuable products.
Sasol expects to conclude the FEED phase and reach final investment decision for the GTL project in 2016. The estimated project cost is between US$11 billion and US$14 billion.
Sasol is also currently in the FEED phase for a world-scale ethane cracker and derivatives project at its existing site near Westlake, La. The proposed facility will produce 1.5 million tons per year of ethylene and other downstream derivatives. Sasol expects to conclude the FEED phase for the ethane cracker in 2014 and begin construction later that year, with operations to begin in 2017. Estimated project cost is $5-7 billion. Sasol previously announced that it had selected Fluor Corp. as its main FEED contractor for this project. Technip will supply its proprietary ethylene technology for this project.