Sasol getting incentives package worth $135M from Louisiana

Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration has pledged an incentive package valued at more than $135 million to South African energy company Sasol Ltd., which is developing a multibillion-dollar complex in southwest Louisiana to turn natural gas into chemicals, diesel and other fuels. Incentives include tax breaks, a $20 million worker training facility, and a $115 million payment to the company for land and infrastructure that will be left to a future governor’s administration and lawmakers to fund. Sasol announced on Monday it plans to spend between $16 billion and $21 billion on the construction of a chemical plant and a gas-to-liquids plant at a site in Westlake, near Lake Charles. The project is described as the largest manufacturing investment in Louisiana’s history. The governor’s office says Sasol will create 1,250 new permanent jobs, while an LSU study says the project will generate an economic impact of $46 billion over 20 years. Landing the facility in Louisiana comes with a sizable financial commitment by the state, though the spending is on track to be less than what was promised by the Jindal administration to Nucor Corp.’s iron and steel plant in St. James Parish. If all five phases of the $3.4 billion Nucor facility are built, the state’s incentive package would pay out $160 million in loans and grants, on top of state and local tax breaks and tax-free borrowing capacity through a hurricane recovery program. The Associated Press has more details in the full story here.