Sasol wants oil, gas partners

Sasol wants partners to help it become the first commercial oil producer in Mozambique and to extend a gas pipeline to will increase exports to SA.

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Johannesburg - Sasol, the world’s biggest maker of liquid fuels from coal, is looking for contractors to help it become the first commercial oil producer in Mozambique and to extend a gas pipeline that will increase exports to neighboring South Africa.

Sasol published tenders in Mozambican newspapers in August for the facility to process oil from wells drilled near Inhassoro, a coastal town 750 kilometers (470 miles) north of the capital, Maputo, and for the gas pipeline project.

Johannesburg-based Sasol is waiting for the Mozambican government to approve plans for the oil venture submitted in February.

The company, which has produced gas in Mozambique since 2004, proposes building a 127 kilometer pipeline across the provinces of Gaza and Inhambane that will feed into supplies to Sasol’s plants over the border, its plans show.

The planned oil plant would have capacity to produce as much as 15 000 barrels a day, along with gas and liquid petroleum gas, according to an environmental impact assessment published online.

Sasol will disclose more details once Mozambican authorities approve its field development plan and the company will also update the market on its projects when it announces full-year results on September 7, Alex Anderson, a spokesman, said by e-mail.

BLOOMBERG