Oil and chemicals group Sasol expects near-dated Brent crude oil to soften from its current level of about $40 a barrel, and during the course of the coming year the group expects Brent to fall to the low $30s a barrel, Sasol chief executive Pieter Cox said on Tuesday.
London’s Brent crude closed on Monday at $40,62 a barrel and on August 21 touched a long-term high of $45,15 a barrel.
Turning to Sasol’s Mozambique natural gas project, Cox said the group has confirmed gas reserves of about 90,6-billion cubic metres at its operations in Mozambique, which are necessary to meet its current ambitions.
Sasol is currently tapping natural gas near Vilanculos in the Inhambane province of Mozambique.
Looking ahead, Cox said over the next two to three years, Sasol will be conducting further exploration to firm up further gas reserves.
Sasol is not interested in the Moatize coal deposit in Mozambique, as the group already has extensive coal reserves in South Africa, Cox said.
London-listed diversified mining group Rio Tonto and Brazil’s Companhia Vale do Rio Doce as well as Anglo American have all confirmed their interest in the Moatize coal deposit.
The Moatize deposit is located in the western Mozambican province of Tete and is believed to be one of the largest coal deposits in Africa.
Sasol is currently conducting a feasibility study in China into the possibility of introducing the group’s process of turning coal into synthetic fuel.
China is particularly interested in Sasol’s technology, as the country’s energy needs are growing rapidly and it does not have much oil and gas reserves to utilise, Cox said.
“The feasibility study is likely to take another year,” he added.
Sasol previously said it was looking at two projects in China’s Ning Xia and Shaan Xi provinces that were expected to cost about $3-billion each.
On the empowerment front, Sasol is looking at introducing a 25% empowerment component to its proposed liquid fuels joint venture with Engen.
In Australia, Sasol continues to look for gas opportunities and has yet to find a gas supply partner in that country, Cox said. — I-Net Bridge