Sasol seeks partner for gas block

Company tells delegates to Africa Oil Week conference they will offer 25% of Sofala offshore Mozambican gas project in exchange for help with exploration

Thu, 11 Nov, 2011

PETROCHEMICALS group Sasol is looking for partners to help it develop its Sofala offshore Mozambican gas block, a conference heard yesterday.

"We will be looking for partners in this block," Ebbie Haan, MD of Sasol Petroleum International, told the Africa Upstream conference in Cape Town.

Sasol has said its offshore Mozambique blocks have "significant prospective resources".

Majid Shafiq, MD of corporate finance at FirstEnergy Capital, which is advising Sasol on the deal, said the group was looking to offer about 25% in the project in exchange for help on it.

"They want someone to carry out the work for the second exploration period," he said on the sidelines of the conference yesterday. The conference was one of the events in Africa Oil Week.

Sasol has previously said the Sofala block and another block, called M-10, in offshore Mozambique, form an integral part of SPI’s growth strategy in the Mozambican heartland.

Sasol remains operator of both the Sofala and M-10 Blocks.

In 2009, Sasol Petroleum entered into an arrangement with Malaysian national oil company Petronas as a strategic partner, in which the two companies jointly acquired equal shares in the M-10 Block while Sasol Petroleum acquired 100% of Sofala Block.

(sourced Businessday)