Page 9 - DMEA Week 50 2021

DMEA FINANCE & INVESTMENT DMEA

Iran sets aside $40bn for nuclear

power construction programme

MIDDLE EAST IRAN’S state budget draft for the next Persian resources and the acquisition of fixed assets, he
calendar year (starts late March 2022) sets aside said.
the equivalent of $40bn in reserves for the con- An executive funding plan is to be prepared
struction of nuclear power plants, Mehr News by the AEOI in cooperation with the Planning
Agency reported on December 14. and Budgetary Organization (PBO) and the
Iran boasts the 1,000 MW Bushehr nuclear Ministry of Finance and Economy. The status of
power plant—the first such civilian facility in the US sanctions applied to Iran will clearly be a con-
Middle East—that was connected to the grid in sideration where foreign funding is concerned.
2013, and the drought experienced by the coun- Iran’s nuclear industry, which started mak-
try this year, its worst in 50 years, and climate ing a name for itself in the 1970s, remains under
change considerations appear to have brought the scrutiny of the UN’s International Atomic
home to officials the need to accelerate the con- Energy Agency (IAEA) with the major powers
struction of more such power plants. concerned that the Iranians keep it entirely civil-
Iranians endured substantial power cuts dur- ian, something Tehran insists it is committed to
ing the hottest months as a lack of rainfall meant ensuring.
much of Iran’s hydroelectricity capacity could Energy Minister Ali-Akbar Mehrabian said
not be deployed. in November that his ministry was pursuing
Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of an electricity provisioning programme to add
Iran, Mohammad Eslami, was quoted as say- 30,000 MW to Iran’s generating capacity by the
ing by Mehr that the construction of additional end of the current government’s term, which will
nuclear power plant capacity would likely begin come in August 2025.
in the next Persian year. Some 21 power plant units would be brought
Projects would be financed with foreign into operation nationwide during the upcoming
investment, domestic financing, government Persian year, he told parliament.™

COMPANIES

Sasol sees drop in production

amid coal shortage

AFRICA SOUTH African petrochemicals giant Sasol has more than 1mn tonnes of lost coal production.
announced a significant drop in its production “Collectively, these incidents contributed to
at its Secunda operations in Mpumalanga, as a just over 50% of the coal production shortfall,”
result of a significant coal supply shortfall. Sasol said in a statement.
In an investment note to its shareholders this Coal operations were also negatively affected
week it announced a downward revision to its by adverse weather conditions, operational chal-
2022 production forecast. Sasol is a major pro- lenges and a slower-than-expected ramp-up to
ducer of synthetic fuels in South Africa with full calendar operations, while external coal sup-
the use of its world-leading coal-to-liquids ply had been interrupted by wet weather.
technology. The reduced coal availability and coal qual-
Sasol said its forecast production volumes ity had led Sasol to reduce its production rates
for Secunda for the 2022 financial year had been at Secunda until mining productivity rates had
revised to between 6.7 and 6.8mn tonnes, signif- risen and stockpiles rebuilt.
icantly down from an earlier October forecast of “We recognise that our production challenges
between 7.3 and 7.4mn tonnes, which was itself may impact on our ability to supply customers.
a downward revision from an initial forecast of “We are currently reviewing multiple options
7.4mn to 7.5mn tonnes. including different sources of supply to supple-
Sasol reported that there had been three ment our production shortfall where feasible,”
major production impacts at its mining unit Sasol stated. The company said it would provide
since the end of October, which had resulted in a production and sales update in January.™

Week 50 16•December•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P9