Sasol CEO says La. gas-to-liquids plant ‘can be a game-changer’ despite risks

David Constable, CEO of Sasol—the South African energy company that is planning to spend between $16 billion and $21 billion to develop the United States’ first gas-to-liquids plant in south Louisiana—tells The New York Times the project “can be a game-changer” for the nation. However, the focus of the article is the risky nature of gas-to-liquids technology, which is in use at just a handful of plants worldwide. “The record for converting gas to liquids is spotty,” the article says. “The newest and largest plant in operation, Royal Dutch Shell’s giant Pearl plant, … in Qatar, cost the leviathan sum of $19 billion, more than three times its original projected cost, and has been plagued with unexpected maintenance problems.” The article also notes that BP and ConocoPhillips built and briefly operated demonstration plants in Alaska and Oklahoma, but stopped short of full development of the technology. Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips, too, announced plans to build giant plants in Qatar but backed out, putting their capital instead into terminals to export liquefied natural gas. Constable says the plant being developed in Westlake, La., will build on technology and expertise the company acquired at one of its gas-to-liquids plants in Qatar, which is the focus of the feature story, accessible in its entirety here.