Sasol plans gas pipeline in Mozambique

Johannesburg - Petrochemicals company Sasol [JSE:SOL] said on Monday it planned to expand a Mozambique processing facility and gas pipeline, as it taps into a growing destination for hydrocarbon investments in Africa.

"In anticipation of the growing market in Mozambique, as well as increasing demand in South Africa, Sasol Petroleum International and its partners have continuously increased the capacity of the Central Processing Facility (CPF) and the pipeline to match the growing demand for gas," Sasol said.

"Sasol Gas Holdings, together with its partners, will be increasing the capacity of the current pipeline at a cost of R1.98bn," the company said in a trading update.

It added $135m was being spent on the processing facility with construction expected to be completed in the first half of 2015.

Mozambique and its east African coastal neighbour Tanzania have joined Russia, Australia and Canada in the race to exploit a gap in global supply for liquefied natural gas (LNG) that is expected to open up by 2020.

In the trading update, Sasol also said its year-to-date sales volumes to the end of September fell by 3%, mainly due to lower diesel supplies.