Page 10 - DMEA Week 49 2022

DMEA COMPANIES DMEA

Sasol produces petrol and diesel from coal using 2026, saying that failure to take timeous climate
its proprietary Fischer-Tropsch coal-to-liquid action would result in a significant financial risk
(CTL) technology. The company’s Secunda to the group.
plant in Mpumalanga province is the largest In response to the criticism, Sasol’s chief
single source of greenhouse gas emissions in the executive officer Fleetwood Grobler on Friday
world. asked shareholders to be patient. He said the
An overwhelming majority of Sasol’s share- company had no doubt that it needed to decar-
holders at the group’s annual general meeting bonise and transform its business model.
(AGM) on Friday, December 2, voted in support “I recognise there is impatience that we are
of its climate action plan, despite criticism from not moving faster. Critics go so far as to accuse
activists over the company’s vague decarbonisa- us of greenwashing, as if we are not serious
tion targets, News24 reports. about decarbonisation,” Grobler said as cited by
According to the media outlet, just over 94% News24.
of shareholders voted for the resolution, while According to the CEO, the board is aware of
almost 6% voted against it. At last year’s AGM, its responsibilities and has taken important steps
96.63% of Sasol shareholders voted in favour of authorising investments to achieve this. How-
the group’s climate action plans. ever, he said, it also recognises that it must do so
Ahead of the meeting this year, activist in a manner which allows Sasol to self-finance
organisations called on shareholders to down- the transition.
vote the climate plan commitments, which, they “So yes, we must build future profit pools, but
said, “remain too vague or too distant to allow we need the current profits pools to finance this
meaningful assessment,” writes News24. transition,” Grobler was quoted as saying. He
Sasol aims to reduce emissions by 30% by also noted that there were other factors outside
2030 and reach net zero emissions by 2050. of Sasol’s control preventing faster transition,
However, activist groups have criticised Sasol for such as regulatory approvals and global geopo-
deferring its decarbonisation plans until at least litical or macroeconomic impacts. ™

PIPELINES
NUIMS head says TNP, Forcados restarts

bring Nigerian oil output up to 1.6mn bpd

NIGERIA NIGERIA has pushed crude oil production up
to 1.6mn barrels per day (bpd) thanks to the
re-opening of the Forcados terminal and the
partial resumption of shipments through the
Trans-Niger Pipeline (TNP), according to a
subsidiary of Nigerian National Petroleum Co.
Ltd (NNPCL).
Bala Wunti, the head of National Upstream
Investment Management Services (NUIMS),
told Arise TV in an interview on December 7
that output levels had risen by 350,000 bpd due
to these developments.
The country’s oil production and transport
infrastructure is becoming more functional as a
result of increased cooperation between regula-
tors, security agencies, oil-producing communi-
ties and other stakeholders, he said.
Private security contractors “anchored by Theft had brought Nigerian oil output down by more than 700,000 bpd (Image: Shell)
the communities” have become an important
component of the government’s strategy, and all on technology. It brings together the security
of the parties involved are working more closely and intelligence agency at one angle, the regu-
together to reduce crude oil theft, he explained. lators at another angle, the operators at another
Community participation has been particularly angle, and then brings in what was almost zero
crucial, Wunti added. – the community – into the other angle, and
“The new security architecture was anchored without the community you can’t achieve that,”
on basically on rectangular architecture layered he said.

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