Sasol says rand strength has big impact

Thursday, Jan 27, 2011

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - South Africa's oil from coal company Sasol said it was speeding up its move into gas and that rand strength was having a big impact on its business.
CEO Patrick Davies told Reuters Insider in an interview at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum that rand strength had made the company sharper and forced it to cut costs.

Sasol was formed 60 years ago to turn South Africa's coal reserves into liquid fuels. Davies said it was now "putting the foot on the accelerator" on its move into gas.
It agreed last month to pay $1.03 billion for a half share of a Talisman Energy shale gas property.

The deal is Sasol's first push into the shale gas plays whose abundance has transformed North America's natural-gas business by driving down prices. It could lead to the introduction of the South African company's gas-to-liquids technology.(sourced:reuters)