Sasol Says Oryx Operating Levels Currently Lower Than Planned
3:00 AM EDT May 22, 2007
Edited Press Release
JOHANNESBURG -(Dow Jones)- The Oryx gas-to-liquids venture in Qatar, in which South African petrochemicals concern Sasol Ltd. (SSL) has a 49% shareholding, has now been operational for more than three months.
Sasol said in a statement Tuesday that all systems, process units, including the three main technologies have during this initial startup period been successfully tested and have demonstrated design intent.
"This bodes well for our strategic ambition to grow our business through GTL projects worldwide," Sasol said.
Products that meet specification are being produced and the first consignment was shipped to market during April.
Sasol said that as would be expected with a facility of the size and complexity of Oryx, the plant has experienced startup operational challenges - most of these limited to individual pieces of equipment.
The failure of the steam super heater in the utility section, reported on during the second half of 2006, has been the most significant to date. This problem has since been successfully resolved.
Operating rates are currently also limited to levels lower than planned.
The biggest challenge preventing ramp-up to the planned production rate is a higher than the design level of fine material that is produced in the process and which then has to be handled downstream of the Fischer-Tropsch units. This fine material is constraining the overall throughput of the downstream units.
A number of possible causes for this have been identified and plans are in place to eliminate or remediate these over the coming months.
The installation of additional downstream equipment as a back-up solution to increase throughput has already been initiated and this will be available for implementation towards the middle of 2008.
Sasol said that over the last fifty years it has successfully developed, implemented and operated several generations of large-scale synthetic fuel plants. "Based on this experience we are fully confident that the above mentioned challenges will be overcome, but in the interim they will unfortunately prolong the ramp-up period."
Until the production of fine material is reduced, the Oryx joint venture will only generate a marginal cash contribution.
An update on Oryx's performance will be provided at an appropriate time, but no later than Sasol's year end results presentation in September 2007.
"We are very pleased that the Oryx startup has, despite these challenges, demonstrated the potential of the world's largest gas-to-liquids facility and that the process produces world-class products. The remaining technical challenges will be resolved as speedily as possible so that full production can be achieved," said Lean Strauss, group general manager of Sasol International Energy business.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
05-22-07 0258ET
Copyright (c) 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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Sasol's Oryx underperforms
22/05/2007 10:23
fin24.co.za
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Fines confound Sasol mega-plant
moneyweb.co.za
The Oryx JV, in Qatar, will ‘ only generate a marginal cash contribution’ until possibly at least mid-2008. |
