Sasol which is a giant energy and chemical producer has currently completed the investment of a US$ 77m for its two polypropylene manufacturing plants at Secunda, South Africa.
According to reports, Sasol invested approximately US$ 1.4bn annually in maintenance and expansion at its liquid fuels and chemicals operations in Sasolburg and Secunda.
Joint Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Stephen Cornell confirmed the reports and said that Sasol was continuously looking for other expansion opportunities, particularly in its chemicals activities.
“Sasol was looking for expansion opportunities specifically in its chemicals activities,” he said.
Mr. Cornell further stated that during construction, the project employed close to 920 people but the number of new jobs created is minimal. The exercise was carried out while the plant continued to operate, although an extended plant shutdown was necessary in the past financial year to enable commissioning.
What followed was the expansion of the C3 after an initial investment of US$ 91m between the year 2012 and 2014 in a stabilisation project at Secunda which was initiated to de-bottleneck the propylene manufacturing facilities.
The project enables Sasol to increase its polypropylene production capacity by 103 000 tons per annum from its Secunda Chemicals Operations, while also realizing improvements in environmental impact.
Propylene is an input for polypropylene which has a broad range of uses, but mainly packaging of consumer goods and also in textiles and automotive components. South Africa’s demand for polypropylene was growing at 4% a year, in line with international trends, Cornell concluded.
Sasol is an international integrated chemicals and energy company that leverages technologies and the expertise of our 30 100 people working in 33 countries. We develop and commercialise technologies, and build and operate world-scale facilities to produce a range of high-value product stream, including liquid fuels, chemicals and low-carbon electricity.
