Sasol, partners study GTL plant in Mozambique

Sasol, the world’s biggest producer of motor fuel from coal, is considering a gas-to-liquids (GTL) plant in Mozambique with Eni of Italy and Mozambique’s national oil company. The joint pre-feasibility study would assess the viability of such a plant in the region, Sasol said. Eni has found about 75 trillion cubic feet of gas offshore of Mozambique in a block known as Area 4 of the Rovuma Basin, the site of the biggest gas discoveries in a decade. The country may have 250 trillion cubic feet of reserves, according to state-owned oil company Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos. There was “quite an extended study period”, Alex Anderson, a spokesman for JSE-listed Sasol, said. Anderson said it was too early to determine how long the study would take or the cost of such a plant. Sasol started its first GTL plant outside South Africa in Qatar in 2007. Sasol will make a final investment choice on a GTL plant in the US 18 to 24 months after it decides on an associated ethane cracker in Westlake, Louisiana. – Bloomberg