South Africa's Sasol looks to sell Canadian shale gas assets
Johannesburg-based energy firm Sasol has decided to sell its Canadian shale gas assets, described as "non-core" following a review of the company's holdings. Sasol said most of its holdings would be retained and it will begin a structured sale process alongside Canadian asset partner Progress Energy. The company also revealed it will not be investing in any more greenfield gas-to-liquids schemes or crude oil refining capacity.

JOHANNESBURG - South Africa's Sasol is pulling out of all of its gas-to-liquids (GTL) greenfield projects including one in Louisiana project expected to cost US$13 billion to US$15 billion, the company said on Thursday.

Walking away from the project, which would have been the biggest investment abroad by a South African company, underscores the headwinds the industry is facing in a volatile market with generally depressed prices.

"While our current GTL assets are generating good returns and cash flows, the value proposition for Sasol to build new GTL projects is uneconomic against a volatile external environment and a structural shift to a low oil price environment," the company said in a statement.

The company had previously delayed its final investment decision on the project because of low oil and gas prices.

Sasol will also divest from its Canadian shale gas assets on which it took a 9.9 billion rand (US$715 million) impairment on its 2016 earnings.

"There will likely be further write-downs on it," Bongani Nqwababa, Sasol joint CEO and president, told Reuters. He cited prices and accounting requirements related to the pending sale as the main reasons.

But the company is forging ahead with its Louisiana ethane cracker project, which is now estimated to cost $11.13 billion to complete and will be the biggest foreign investment by a South African company. It is now 79 percent complete.

The plant will take ethane, a component of natural gas, and turn it into ethylene, used in the manufacture of plastic products.

Sasol said it had completed reviews on more that half of its global assets and they "have confirmed that the majority of the company’s assets will be retained".

The company, which pioneered the conversion of coal to fuel when South Africa was subject to sanctions under apartheid, also said it saw no need to boost its crude oil refining capacity, which currently stands at 270,000 barrels per day in South Africa.

Sasol also said it had increased its revolving credit facility to US$3.9 billion from US$1.5 billion and extended its maturity to five years.

The syndication closed oversubscribed with 17 banks committing to the transaction which allowed the company to increase the facility from its target size of US$3.0 billion.

The company said it aims to raise its dividend payout ratio to 40 per cent of earnings per share by 2022 from 36 per cent currently, and later to 45 per cent.