US's Lake Charles drains Sasol
The Lake Charles Chemicals Project is expected to cost as much as $11.8bn
Sasol stock sank to a 16-month low on Friday after the petrochemical giant flagged delays and cost-overruns at its multibillion-dollar US investment in Louisiana. The Lake Charles Chemicals Project, halfway between the southern cities of Houston and New Orleans, is now expected to cost as much as $11.8bn (about R160bn), at least $500m more than recently forecast, the company said. In 2014, Sasol decided to invest $8.1bn in the Lake Charles ethane cracker and derivatives complex, at the time one of the largest investments of the decade into the US by a foreign company. It now makes Sasol one of a club of South African companies that have had a bumpy ride hitching their futures to business in the developed world. Retailer Woolworths has had to write off R7bn in the Australian department store chain it bought in 2014. Steinhoff recently let go of half the equity in restructured Mattress Firm, a company it bought three years ago for $3.8bn. And Netcare last year exited its investment in...
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