GE Oil & Gas has been awarded  a contract from Sasol North America for the provision of the main compression trains required for its new low-density polyethylene (LDPE) plant being developed in Lake Charles, Louisiana, officials said on Monday.

This LDPE plant is a central element of Sasol’s proposed $8.9 billion petrochemical complex, which will include a world-scale ethylene plant and ethylene derivatives plants.

The LDPE Hyper compressor, which will sit at the heart of the plant, is a unique 20-cylinder two-stage compressor, with discharge pressures of 45,000 psi.

The scale of the plant, one of the largest in the world, reflects considerable growth seen in the North Americanpetrochemical segment in recent years. The complex will produce 1.5 million tpy of ethylene, with approximately 90% of ethylene output converted into a diverse slate of commodity and specialty chemicals.

This announcement comes exactly one year after GE Oil & Gas launched its downstream technologysolutions (DTS) business, designed to more effectively serve the $10 billion refining, petrochemical, industrial and distributed gas segments. 

DTS provides integrated solutions with a single equipment source, focused on applications for ethylene, low-density polyethylene, ammonia and urea as well as refinery processing.

“This substantive agreement exemplifies how the DTS business is growing by meeting customer needs,” said Hasan Dandashly, vice president of DTS at GE Oil & Gas. 

“Our business was established to provide the insight and reliability the downstream segments requires," he added. "Sasol's decision to work with GE on this considerable project illustrates the trust and confidence that customers are placing in GE’s experts and capability.”