South African energy firm Sasol has plans to end its oil operations in West Africa in an attempt to revamp business structure, media reports said. The reasons for ending its operations in the country is attributed to weak oil prices and low demand on the back of Covid-19.
Sasol also plans to slash jobs. It is reported that the company has agreed a deal with lenders in terms of relaxing borrowing rules.
The company said in a statement, “A focused and robust review of the business, and the associated workforce structures, is underway and a detailed update will be provided to stakeholders alongside the full year results. The review has identified that the future Sasol business, ‘Sasol 2.0’, will be focused on two core businesses, chemicals and energy (the businesses). The chemicals business will focus on its activities in specialty chemicals where it has differentiated capabilities and strong market positions which can be expanded over time. The energy business will comprise the Southern African value chain and associated assets and will pursue greenhouse gas emission reduction (GHG) through focus on gas as a key feedstock and renewables as a secondary energy source.”
The company’s liquidity headroom is more than $1 billion. In addition, it is reducing the size of its facilities as debt levels are lowered.