Sasol, the world’s largest maker of fuel from coal, will consider carving out a separate company from its expanding chemicals business after completing its $11.1 billion ethane cracker at it facility in the Lake Charles area in late 2019, Bloomberg reports.
The South African company expects low oil prices to persist and executives say the company’s specialty chemicals—used in lubricants, inks, metalworking and catalysts—enjoy a competitive advantage.
Last week, Sasol announced that it’s scrapping plans to build a $15 billion gas-to-liquids plant in Westlake, calling the project “uneconomic.”
The potential split comes as the Westlake project marks a “step change” in Sasol’s production of chemicals, which already generate half the company’s profit, says co-CEO Steve Carroll.
Sasol’s project will convert ethane to ethylene, which will be converted into polyethylene plastics and other products. Polyethylene production at Westlake should begin late in the third quarter of 2018, with an ethylene plant to follow in the fourth quarter and a second polyethylene unit starting in the first quarter of 2019, Cornell says. Specialty chemical plants will come online through the end of 2019.
