A South African energy firm has selected Calcasieu Parish as the site for its first American gas-to-liquids complex, Gov. Bobby Jindal’s office announced today. Sasol Ltd., based in Johannesburg, South Africa, expects to begin construction of the GTL complex in two phases beginning in 2013 and ending in 2018. The company says construction would create thousands of construction jobs with an average salary of $75,000. Once completed, the facility would employ 850 at an average salary of $89,000, not including benefits, and generate 4,000 indirect jobs, according to Louisiana Economic Development.
Sasol’s GTL complex would be the first of its kind built in the U.S. A GTL facility converts natural gas into synthetic gas, which is then turned into premium diesel fuel and related products. At full capacity, the plant would produce 4 million tons of product per year, with maximum capacity of 96,000 barrels-per-day. The facility would also consume approximately 305 billion standard cubic feet of natural gas per year, which would represent roughly $1.3-$1.5 billion per year in natural gas purchases at current prices. That “would benefit the Haynesville Shale and other natural gas plays here,” Jindal says in a statement.
A recently completed economic impact analysis by LSU, commissioned by Sasol, estimates the plant construction alone will generate $1.73 billion in new business activity and more than 12,000 jobs associated with $577 million in personal earnings during the five-year construction period. Once the complex is fully operational, it is estimated to generate nearly $919 million each year in new economic activity.
