Sasol to decide next year on plants in China

Sasol will decide late next year whether to invest as much as US$14 billion in the construction of two 80,000 barrel-a-day refineries in China. The company had started a study on the feasibility of the two coal-to-oil plants last year, Herbert Naude, Sasol’s investor relations representative, said. Sasols plants were planned to be located in the Shaanxi and Ningxia provinces in China. Naude said the plants will start its operation after the end of 2013. The company plans to spend US$20 billion between this year and 2009. We need to make sure certain things are in place coal supply, product offtake and capital estimates before we go ahead, Naude said. Sasol is also planning to build plants in the U.S., Nigeria, India and Australia. (May 16, 2007)