The Wall St. Journal reports “the tale of a company called Sasol, SOL.JO +0.48% the former South African state oil company, which is embarking on what could be the single-largest foreign investment project in U.S. history.”  

“Sasol is building a 3,034-acre energy complex near a bayou in Lake Charles, La. Tapping into cheap, fracked natural gas as well as the pipeline and shipping infrastructure along the Gulf Coast, Sasol plans to spend as much as $21 billion there.”  

The piece continues: “In that way, Sasol is a metaphor for what we don’t yet understand about America’s gas boom. Most know what fracking has meant for oil and gas prices. But because much of the work hasn’t started yet, few appreciate the true extent of the industrialization that’s about to begin.”  

“So let’s put it this way: We are building a Qatar on the Bayou. From whole cloth, companies are laying new cities of fertilizer plants, boron manufacturers, methanol terminals, polymer plants, ammonia factories and paper-finishing facilities. In computer renderings, the Sasol site looks like a fearsome, steel-fitted Angkor Wat.”