It will also require concerted focus on the retention of STEM majors during the initial years of college because, today, fewer than 40 percent of students who enter college intending to major in a STEM field complete a STEM degree.

WHITEHOUSE: One Decade, One Million more STEM Graduates

Sasol has been in the synthetic fuels business for over half a century, deriving its initial experience in South Africa when the country was isolated during the apartheid years, and it produced liquid fuels from coal turned to syngas.

FORBES: Sasol's Answer to the Natural Gas Highway: Convert the Fuel

Despite paying initial lip-service to the need to counteract the debilitating oil-price cycle by saving money during the boom years, he has virtually emptied the fund set up in 1998 for that purpose.

ECONOMIST: Venezuela's economic policy