Sasol cuts its production target
Planned full shutdown at SSO West factory took longer than estimated, mainly due to technical issues
Sasol reduced its production guidance for its Secunda coal-to-oil plant because maintenance was taking longer than expected, it said in its September quarter update on Thursday. However, thanks to improved performance at its Natref refinery, Sasol said it was still on track to achieve its sales target of about 58-million barrels of fuel in its 2019 financial year, which ends in June. In its 2018 financial results, Sasol reported that Secunda’s synfuel production fell 3% to 7.6-million tons.
Trade union Solidarity maintains strike action at the plant had a direct effect in causing the drop in production due to delays, saying its members are gearing up to increase pressure on the petrochemical producer. The decline in shareholder confidence and production would eventually exceed the costs of including white workers in the group's employee share ownership plan, said Solidarity CE Dirk Hermann. Sasol, however, denied that industrial action was at the root of the delay, saying thi...
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