Page 9 - DMEA Week 49 2022

DMEA COMPANIES DMEA

The company’s Secunda CTL plant is the largest GHG emitter in the world (Image: Sasol)

Sasol’s May-November results marred

by flooding and poor-quality materials

AFRICA OPERATIONAL stoppages, poor coal quality, logistics utility Transnet had ended their strike.
rain damage at a key processing facility and a However, a shortage of rail cars resulted in the
strike at a state logistics utility are all expected to declaration of yet another force majeure on
impact the South African chemicals giant Sasol’s the local supply of ammonia again in the same
production and sales volumes over the past half month.
year. Due to the foregoing and other factors, Sasol
In projections for the six months ending reduced its coal production guidance at Secunda
December 31 released on Thursday, Decem- to 6.6-6.9mn tonnes, from 7.0-7.2mn. Liquid
ber 1, Sasol said certain factors have not only fuels sales volumes are likely to total 52-55mn
affected the second quarter of its 2023 financial barrels, lower than previous guidance of 53-
year but will also continue to affect the outlook 56mn barrels, while Chemicals Africa sales vol-
for the remainder of the period. umes of 0-4% higher than the prior year, will be
The company, which produces a wide range lower than previous guidance of 6-12% higher
of chemicals through the processing of coal, than prior year.
said flooding at its Secunda synthetic fuels plant While its performance in its second quarter
north of Johannesburg had taken the factory out was largely muted, Sasol expects earnings and
for several days. headline earnings per share for the six months
“In the restart of the plant, we also experi- ending December 31 to increase by more than
enced unplanned outages on the reforming 20%.
units,” said Sasol. “We are faced with prolonged The company plans to enhance coal blend-
downtime on two of 17 reformers, which are ing through more focused purchases of high-
expected back online before the end of the 2023 er-quality coal from external suppliers to
financial year. The continued challenges with supplement own production.
coal quality have impacted gasifier availability, “Given the heightened risk associated with
and although we took decisive action to improve the rainy season in South Africa, we have taken
equipment availability, a further deterioration proactive measures at our Secunda site to reduce
of coal quality during October and November the risk of flooding. Restoration of the reform-
2022 has impacted production.” ing units will be prioritised to ensure that we can
Listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange maximise use of any available natural gas in the
in South Africa and the New York Stock remainder of financial year 2023 to maximise
Exchange, the firm has operations in 22 coun- production,” it said.
tries and a head office in South Africa.
Sasol lifted its force majeure on the local sup- CEO urges patience on decarbonisation
ply and export of certain chemicals products In related news, Sasol has called for patience as it
at the beginning of November after workers at works to decarbonise its business.

Week 49 08•December•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P9