Sasol to Explore for Hydrocarbons in Papua New Guinea
Sasol Petroleum International (SPI) has obtained a 51% working interest in four hydrocarbon prospecting licenses covering a land area of 37 000 square kilometers, close to established gas fields in the “foreland” area of Papua New Guinea. Seismic surveying is scheduled to commence in October 2008.
The exploration work will be carried out by newly formed Sasol Petroleum Papua New Guinea in Blocks PPL285, PPL286, PPL287 and PPL288. Partners include Papua Petroleum Limited, a Papua New Guinea based exploration company.
“This is an exciting opportunity to unlock potential natural gas resources in Papua New Guinea. We look forward to working with our new partners and the government of Papua New Guinea,” says Sasol Group GM Lean Strauss.
During the past few years, SPI has successfully grown their business from securing and developing gas and liquid assets, primarily in Mozambique and West Africa, to an operational natural gas supplier to various Sasol businesses and external customers mainly in Southern Africa.
As part of Sasol’s growth strategy, SPI is spreading its footprint beyond Africa to significantly increase its hydrocarbon resources by securing new gas reserves to enable the achievement of Sasol’s gas-to-liquids (GTL) ambitions.
Sasol is an integrated oil and gas company with substantial chemical interests. Based in South Africa and operating worldwide, Sasol is listed on the NYSE and JSE stock exchanges. We are the leading provider of liquid fuels in South Africa and a major international producer of chemicals. Sasol uses proprietary Fischer-Tropsch technologies for the commercial production of synthetic fuels and chemicals from low-grade coal and natural gas. We manufacture more than 200 fuel and chemical products that are sold worldwide. In South Africa we also operate coal mines to provide feedstock for our synthetic fuels plants. Sasol operates the only inland crude oil refinery in South Africa. The group produces crude oil in offshore Gabon, supplies Mozambican natural gas to end-user customers and petrochemical plants in South Africa, and with partners involved in gas-to-liquids fuel joint ventures in Qatar and Nigeria. Internet address: http://www.sasol.com
