Sasol

Sasol Limited

Trading name	Sasol
Type	Public company
Traded as	NYSE: SSL JSE: SOL
Industry	Oil and gas Chemical
Founded	1950 (1950)
Headquarters	Johannesburg, South Africa
Key people	David Constable (CEO)
Revenue	US$21.78 billion[1]
Operating income	US$4.72 billion[1]
Net income	US$3.11 billion[1]
Employees	34,000
Website	www.sasol.com

Sasol Limited is an integrated energy and chemical company based in Johannesburg, South Africa. The company was formed in 1950 in Sasolburg, South Africa. It develops and commercialises technologies, including synthetic fuels technologies, and produces different liquid fuels, chemicals and electricity.

Sasol is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange. Major shareholders include South African Government Employees Pension Fund, Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa Limited (IDC), Allan Gray Investment Counsel, Coronation Fund Managers, Investment Asset Managers, among others. Sasol employs approximately 34 000 people worldwide and has operations in 38 countries. It is the largest corporate taxpayer in South Africa.^{[citation needed]}

Operations

Sasol has exploration, development, production, marketing and sales operations in 38 countries across the world, including Southern Africa, the rest of Africa, the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Northern Asia, Asia, Southeast Asia, Far East, and Australasia.^[2]

The Sasol group's structure is organised into four focused business clusters: South African energy cluster, international energy cluster, chemical cluster and other businesses.^{[citation needed]}

South African energy cluster

There are four areas that make up the South African energy cluster, namely: Sasol Mining,^[3] Sasol Gas,^[4] Sasol Synfuels^[5] and Sasol Oil.^[6]

The South African energy cluster comprises the businesses upon which Sasol was founded. It supplies around a third of South Africa's inland liquid fuel requirements.^[7]

International energy cluster

Made up of two part, the International energy cluster comprises Sasol Synfuels International and Sasol Petroleum International.^{[citation needed]}

The international energy cluster is the driver of Sasol's international growth aspirations. Sasol Synfuels International supports the group's existing and future international gas to liquids (GTL) and coal to liquids (CTL) facilities. Sasol Petroleum International explores and produces upstream resources to secure feedstocks for Sasol's downstream technologies.^[8]

Chemical cluster

Made up of Sasol Polymers, Sasol Solvents, Sasol Olefins & Surfactants, Sasol Wax, Sasol Nitro, Sasol Infrachem and Merisol.^{[citation needed]}

In South Africa, the chemical businesses are integrated in the Fischer-Tropsch value chain. Outside South Africa, it operates chemical businesses based on backward integration into feedstock and/or competitive market positions.^{[citation needed]}

Other businesses

Sasol New Energy develops and commercialises new technologies, and implements and operates facilities based on these technologies, to pursue growth in power generation and low-carbon and renewable energy alternatives.^{[citation needed]}

Sasol Financing manages the group's central treasury.^{[citation needed]}

Sasol Technology focuses on research and development, technology management and innovation, engineering services and project management.^{[citation needed]}

Major projects

SASOL Olefins and Surfactants – Lake Charles – Louisiana

North America

The proposed ethane cracker and derivatives plant and integrated GTL and chemicals facility in Westlake, Lake Charles, Louisiana, is the largest foreign investment in the history of the State of Louisiana.^{[9][10][11][12]}

ORYX GTL

ORYX GTL Plant – Qatar

The Oryx GTL plant in Qatar is a joint venture between Sasol and Qatar Petroleum, launched in 2007. The more than 32,000 barrels per day (5,100 m³/d) plant produces a combination of GTL diesel, GTL naphtha and liquid petroleum gas.^[13][14]

Uzbekistan

The proposed Uzbekistan GTL project is a partnership between Sasol, Uzbekneftegaz and Petronas.^[15][16][17]

Mozambique

SASOL Gas Pipeline – Temane – Mozambique

This gas project came into operation in 2004, and is a joint venture agreement between Sasol Petroleum International, Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos (ENH), and the International Finance Corporation. Sasol is developing a 140 MW gas-fired electricity generation plant in partnership with power utility EDM.^[18]

Technology

The Sasol Slurry Phase Distillate Process (SPD process) transform natural gas into energy and chemical products, including transport fuels, base oils, waxes, paraffins and naphtha.^[19] The three stage process combines three proprietary technologies. Natural gas is combined with oxygen to form a syngas which is then subjected to a Fischer-Tropsch conversion, resulting in waxy syncrude. Finally, this is cracked down to produce the end product.^[20]

Social investments and sponsorship

Sasol devotes most of its sponsorship investment in South Africa to sport.^{[citation needed]} Among others, Sasol sponsors South Africa's national teams, including:

• The South Africans Women's Football team – Banyana Banyana^[21]
• The South African Paralympics team^[22]
• The South African Men's National Wheelchair Basketball team^[23]

VW – Sasol Racing Rally Car

Sasol also sponsors the annual Sasol Rally,^[24] the Sasol New Signatures art competition,^[25] the Black Tie Ensemble,^[26] the South African National Youth Orchestra,^[27] and the Techno X festival of science, engineering and technology.^{[citation needed]}

Environmental conservation programmes focused on:

• Wild dogs, vultures and ground hornbills
• The support of educational programmes including natural history publications
• Birding related projects^[28]

Sasol also supports the following corporate initiatives:^{[citation needed]}

• Nepad Business Foundation
• Business Trust
• Black Management Forum

Controversies

In 2009 Sasol agreed to pay an administrative penalty of R188 million as part of a settlement agreement with the Competition Commission of South Africa for alleged price fixing, in which a competitor alleged that Sasol was abusing its dominance in the markets for fertilisers by charging excessive prices for certain products.^[29]

Sasol also had to pay a €318 million fine to the European Commission (EC) in 2008, which is about R3.7 billion, for participating in a paraffin wax cartel. Despite its indication that it would appeal the fine amount, the full amount had to be paid to the EC within three months of the fine being issued.^[30][31]

See also

• List of petroleum companies
• Fischer-Tropsch process

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sasol.

• Sasol Official website
• How Nazi Germany and apartheid South Africa perfected one of the world's most exciting new fuel sources. Slate Magazine
• Google Maps view of Sasol's Secunda plant
• SciFest Africa, part of Sasol's investment in science education in South Africa
• Sasol suffers shareholder fury at AGM over e318m EU fine
• Activist shareholder turns the screws on Sasol
• Fury at Sasol's AGM over price-fixing fine
• Greenpeace Sues Sasol for Corporate Espionage – video report by Democracy Now!