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)
Showing posts with label Sasol. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sasol. Show all posts
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Monday, March 7, 2011
China gives environmental nod to Sasol CTL project
Mon Mar 7, 2011 5:21am GMT
BEIJING (Reuters) - China granted initial environmental approval to an $8.8 billion project by South African petrochemical firm Sasol and China's top coal producer Shenhua Group to turn coal into fuels.
The environmental clearence put the project, potentially one of the largest foreign investments in China, a step closer to final approval from the top economic steering body, the National Development & Reform Commission (NDRC), after nearly a decade of talks between the two companies.
The project, to be built in north China's Ningxia region, plans to make 3.16 million tonnes of diesel and 655,500 tonnes of naphtha a year, according to a post published on the website of China's Ministry of Environmental Protection (www.mep.gov.cn).
After backing coal-to-liquid (CTL) investments as a way of improving energy security and easing its growing dependence on foreign oil, China went cold on the technology in 2008, cancelling dozens of projects amid concerns about high costs and the impact it would have on scarce local water supplies.
The country's massive coal industry has also been developing its own coal liquefying technology, which has become a drag for the government to rush approving projects like this one by Sasol, which emerged from discussions with Shenhua back in 2000.
"The Chinese government obviously favours domestically grown technology when its comes to approvals, given that Shenhua already started a similar plant based on pure Chinese know-how," said a Beijing-based oil industry official.
Shenhua Group, parent of Shenhua Energy Co Ltd, has built its first CTL plant in the northern Inner Mongolia region expected to reach 3 million tonnes a year by 2015.
"It seems a big reason why the project got the final go-ahead was the potential for technology transfer from Sasol to Shenhua. Its a very important consideration given how new this sector is in China," said Shi Sijin, an analyst at Hawker Capital.
But Shi said the approval shouldn't be interpreted to mean Beijing is shifting its cautious position on the sector and that the Chinese government is unlikely to encourage more CTL projects.
Sasol CEO Pat Davies told analysts in December that the firm was expecting a positive outcome from the Chinese government early this year and hoped to make the investment decision during this calendar year. (sourced:Thomson Reuters)
Tags : CTL, coal liquefying technology, Hawker Capital, coal, coal to liquids project
BEIJING (Reuters) - China granted initial environmental approval to an $8.8 billion project by South African petrochemical firm Sasol and China's top coal producer Shenhua Group to turn coal into fuels.
The environmental clearence put the project, potentially one of the largest foreign investments in China, a step closer to final approval from the top economic steering body, the National Development & Reform Commission (NDRC), after nearly a decade of talks between the two companies.
The project, to be built in north China's Ningxia region, plans to make 3.16 million tonnes of diesel and 655,500 tonnes of naphtha a year, according to a post published on the website of China's Ministry of Environmental Protection (www.mep.gov.cn).
After backing coal-to-liquid (CTL) investments as a way of improving energy security and easing its growing dependence on foreign oil, China went cold on the technology in 2008, cancelling dozens of projects amid concerns about high costs and the impact it would have on scarce local water supplies.
The country's massive coal industry has also been developing its own coal liquefying technology, which has become a drag for the government to rush approving projects like this one by Sasol, which emerged from discussions with Shenhua back in 2000.
"The Chinese government obviously favours domestically grown technology when its comes to approvals, given that Shenhua already started a similar plant based on pure Chinese know-how," said a Beijing-based oil industry official.
Shenhua Group, parent of Shenhua Energy Co Ltd, has built its first CTL plant in the northern Inner Mongolia region expected to reach 3 million tonnes a year by 2015.
"It seems a big reason why the project got the final go-ahead was the potential for technology transfer from Sasol to Shenhua. Its a very important consideration given how new this sector is in China," said Shi Sijin, an analyst at Hawker Capital.
But Shi said the approval shouldn't be interpreted to mean Beijing is shifting its cautious position on the sector and that the Chinese government is unlikely to encourage more CTL projects.
Sasol CEO Pat Davies told analysts in December that the firm was expecting a positive outcome from the Chinese government early this year and hoped to make the investment decision during this calendar year. (sourced:Thomson Reuters)
Tags : CTL, coal liquefying technology, Hawker Capital, coal, coal to liquids project
Friday, February 4, 2011
Sasol’s China coal-to-liquids plant on hold
No more work to be undertaken before application approved
Friday 04, 2011
By SISEKO NJOBENI
PETROCHEMICALS group Sasol said yesterday it would put on hold new work on a planned coal-to-liquids project in China while it awaited the outcome of the Chinese government’s review of the project application.
Sasol and its partner in the project, Shenua Ningxia Coal Industry Group, submitted a project application last year to the National Development and Reform Commission, a macroeconomic management agency that falls under China’s State Council. The commission lists planning of the layout of key construction projects among its functions.
The application seeks approval from the Chinese government to build the coal-to-liquids plant at the Ningdong energy and chemical base in the northwest autonomous region of Ningxia Hui.
Sasol and Shenua Ningxia Coal Industry Group are 50-50 partners in the mooted 94000 barrels a day plant. The project will use Sasol’s proprietary technology. The companies have completed feasibility studies.
Sasol spokeswoman Jacqui O’Sullivan said yesterday the project would cost $8bn-$10bn. As 50% equity partner, Sasol is liable for half of the costs.
Ms O’Sullivan said Sasol and Shenua Ningxia Coal Industry Group were awaiting the decision of the National Development and Reform Commission.
"The project has reached a key decision point and the partners have decided to delay initiation of any further project activities until the outcome of the decision is known," Ms O’Sullivan said.
The Chinese project is one of several Sasol is pursuing outside SA. According to Sasol, the proposed project would be the largest single-project foreign direct investment in China and its largest coal-to-liquid fuels project yet.
In comments made in Beijing when he was part of President Jacob Zuma ’s delegation to China last year, Sasol CE Pat Davies said Sasol and Shenua Ningxia Coal Industry Group had put together "the best possible commercially proven overall integrated technology package".
Sasol’s decision to halt further work on the project follows last month’s announcement of its decision to can a proposed coal-to-liquids plant in Indonesia.
The project had still been at what was called the "ideas stage" of development.
The canning of the project in Indonesia was regarded as an indication that, for Sasol, new greenfields coal-to-liquid projects will play second fiddle to gas-to-liquids projects.
(sourced:Business Day, news worth knowing)
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