Despite challenging circumstances during the six months ended December 31, energy and chemicals company Sasol has stated that its market guidance for both its Mining and Gas divisions remains unchanged, even as the yearly volume outlook for its Secunda operations and the Natref refinery has been revised downward.

The company said it expects sales volumes for its Fuels and Chemicals Africa businesses to align largely with the projections for the 2024 financial year.

"Despite the operational challenges faced during the [final quarter of the 2024 calendar year], we remain committed to executing key self-help initiatives aimed at improving performance and mitigating the challenges we face," Sasol said on January 23, updating shareholders on its performance for the first half of its 2025 financial year, which will end on June 30, 2025.

Production volume guidance for Oryx – a joint venture between State-owned Qatar Petroleum (51%) and Sasol (49%) – has been revised upwards.

However, sales volume guidance for International Chemicals for the 2025 financial year has been adjusted downward by between 4% and 8% compared with the 2024 financial year. This revision was attributed to weaker-than-expected demand and unplanned operational outages.

Sasol stated that the financial impact of these developments has been mitigated through effective cost management initiatives and improved margins compared with the prior period.

In December, Sasol made a final investment decision for a destoning solution aimed at enhancing the quality of coal supplied to its Secunda operations. The beneficial operation of this solution is now expected in the first half of the 2026 financial year, earlier than previously communicated.

Meanwhile, civil unrest in Mozambique affected the company’s central processing facility in December, leading to reduced production rates. The facility has since resumed full capacity, though heightened near-term risk remains.

On January 4, a fire at the Natref refinery, in Sasolburg, caused damage to piping and infrastructure surrounding the crude distillation unit. Sasol confirmed that the fire was swiftly contained, with no injuries reported.

Repairs are expected to be completed before the end of February. To address supply shortfalls in the interim, Sasol has implemented contingency plans, including product purchases where possible.

At the company’s Secunda operations, several operational challenges were encountered, primarily owing to ongoing coal quality complications, which have affected gasifier and equipment availability.

Sasol said it was implementing destoning and equipment reliability improvement initiatives to enhance production levels in the future.

Despite a challenging business environment during the period, Sasol said its International Chemicals revenue improved compared with the first half of the 2024 financial year.

Sales volumes during period were negatively affected by the East Cracker outage in the US, although the unit successfully resumed operations in November last year.

Mitigating these numerous challenges, Sasol said its overall profitability has improved, driven by proactive management efforts.