SASOL GAINS FROM WEAKER RAND

INTEGRATED energy and chemical company Sasol said yesterday that it had benefited from higher Brent crude oil and product prices as well as a weaker average rand exchange rate against major currencies during the quarter ended September. Sasol said it had seen higher productivity across most of its operations with an increased focus on safety, margins and cost control. The company’s mining operations were building momentum with increased productivity over the quarter and had fully restored stock piles to above target levels. “External purchases have been significantly reduced and current indications are that mining will achieve the targeted production levels of 40 million tons for the full year.” At its Mozambican upstream operations, the company expected to achieve its production target of 114 – 118 bscf (billions of standard cubic feet of gas) for FY19. Sasol said a planned full shutdown at its Secunda operations West factory had been longer than estimated mainly due to technical issues, affecting production and sales volumes across the value chain. “The longer shutdown will result in annual production guidance declining to 7.5 to 7.6 million tons. We are confident we will achieve our production targets for the remainder of the year. Indications are that we will meet our revised production and sales targets.” | African News Agency (ANA)