Industry News

Our Latest Blog Posts
26
Feb

Energy minister’s remarks point to upcoming fuel price hike

Minister of Energy Jeff Radebe told Parliament's oversight committee on energy on Tuesday that difficulties beyond the government's control look set to inform the fuel price announcement due at the end of the week. His remarks strongly point towards a fuel price hike for motorists. The final fuel price announcement for March will be made at the end of the week or over the weekend. New prices generally come into…

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25
Feb

Increases to fuel levies will hurt the poor and increase burden on all consumers

We are relieved that Minister of Finance Tito Mboweni did not increase fuel levies above inflation – as has been the case in previous years – despite pre-Budget Speech speculation that this may have happened. Announced in today’s Budget Speech (SUBS: 20 FEB), any changes to the fuel levies will be implemented along with any fuel price adjustments on 3 April, the first Wednesday of April 2019. Even though the…

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25
Feb

Fuel price reversal as oil strengthens

Recent reductions in the fuel price have been dealt a blow by a steady increase in international petroleum prices during the first half of February. This is according to the unaudited mid-month fuel price data released by the Central Energy Fund. Oil traded within a very tight band for most of January, but we have seen a steady uptick since February began. This trend has accelerated in the last week…

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25
Feb

Sasol raises interim dividend back to 2016 level

Sasol raised its interim dividend by 18% to R5.90 — good news for shareholders after five years of belt-tightening during which the R8 paid in the first half of its 2014 financial year fell to R4.80 in the first half of its 2107 financial year. The New York- and Johannesburg-listed chemicals group reports in both rand and dollars. In rand, attributable profit more than doubled to R15.9bn for the six…

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15
Feb

Fuel prices look set to rise in March – AA

The price of petrol looks set to increase by 43 cents per litre according to unaudited mid-month fuel price data, the Automobile Association said on Friday. The AA said current data indicates that diesel will rise by 62c/l and illuminating paraffin by 47c/l. "Recent reductions in the fuel price have been dealt a blow by a steady increase in international petroleum prices during the first half of February," it said.…

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08
Feb

New oil find could be a ‘game changer’ for SA, says Ramaphosa

A major new oil discovery off South Africa's coast could be a 'game-changer' for South Africa, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Thursday evening. Ramaphosa was speaking only hours after Total announced the deep-water Brulpadda oil and gas find. "Last night I received a call from Minister Gwede Mantashe, when he told me that the oil giant Total would be making a big announcement today about a new world-class oil and…

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08
Feb

Sasol’s giant US plant delayed, cost up to $11.8bn

Sasol said capital costs at its Lake Charles chemicals project in Louisiana have increased once again, to as much as $11.8bn, and start-up of the units will be as many as five months later than expected. The previous estimate for project, which will convert ethane into plastics and other products, was for about $11.1bn.During the last quarter of 2018, "several factors within and beyond our control impacted the completion schedule…

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07
Feb

First Oil and Gas Discovery Made Offshore of South Africa

Total SA said it has opened up a new “world-class” oil and gas province off the coast of South Africa after making a significant gas-condensate discovery there. Success in the nation’s first deep-water well is a potential boon for a country that imports most of its oil, processing the remainder of its fuels from coal and natural gas. “We are very pleased to announce the Brulpadda discovery, which was drilled…

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04
Feb

In the shadow of Secunda’s Sasol plant, servals are thriving

Ever since the industrial revolution, human activities have resulted in rapid environmental changes including degradation, fragmentation and destruction of habitat, climate change and biodiversity loss. Animals, such as large carnivores, are often among the first to disappear as human disturbance increases. The fact that human activities have had catastrophic consequences for some species is undisputed. But there are also instances where wildlife has benefited from human interventions, such as raccoons…

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