Current Edition >> Archives Section >> Leading Stories >> 1-15 May 2006

Sasol massive expansions both inside and outside SA

Synfuels and chemicals company Sasol has announced that it plans to spend R8,5 billion on capital projects in the next six months, the bulk of which will be in South Africa. The first six months of this year Sasol had already spent R6,1 billion on capital projects, 77% of which in South Africa.
According to Sasol chief executive Pat Davies, Sasol plans to nurture its South African assets, particularly its synfuels business, which it would like to see growing by 20% in the next 10 years. Davies also said he is excited about the company's gas-to-liquids activities in Qatar, was upbeat about coal-to-liquids in China and would be visiting India about that country's coal-to-liquids potential. If one took only 10% of the coal reserves of China and converted those into oil-equivalent, it would equal the world's proven oil reserves, Davies remarked.
Davies described Sasol's gas effort in Mozambique as “a great business”, the company already being in a position to accommodate up to 183 million gigajoules a year, up from the current 120 million.
Sasol would also be exploring offshore, for which an environmental-impact study was in place. It had furthermore received approval from the Nigerian government to enter a second deep-water block, which already had a significant oil discovery.
“We are in a world that is energy hungry; oil prices are high and people are concerned about energy security,” Davies said.
Inside South Africa, the cost of Sasol's polymers plant had risen to $9,1 billion and the total cost of Project Turbo, including the fuel portion, had risen to R14,3 billion, 7% higher than the numbers last revealed.
All in all, Sasol today makes 48% of its sales outside this country, of which 11% is serviced from its home plants and 37% from its overseas operations; 35% of its equity is held by foreigners, 25% by Americans and most of the other 10% by British and European shareholders.