One South African company winning big from the war in Iran

Sasol reported a 17% jump in profit as the world’s biggest producer of fuel and chemicals from coal benefited from a surge in oil prices caused by the war in Iran.

Johannesburg-based Sasol reported adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation of R60.7 billion in the year ended June 30, it said in a filing on Tuesday.

That compares with R51.8 billion in the same period a year earlier.

The company ramped up production at its Secunda manufacturing hub, even though the emissions-rich process makes it South Africa’s second-biggest emitter of greenhouse gases.

The Secunda hub, with the capacity to produce 160,000 barrels of synthetic fuel per day, has increased output to its highest level in five years.

Sasol’s Natref plant, one of two crude-oil refineries still operating in South Africa, helped the nation mitigate a gap left by fuel imports from the Middle East, stranded by the conflict. 

Sasol’s been realising a healthy profit considering its $50 breakeven level, with the war pushing oil prices higher than $100 a barrel.

The company is attempting to reduce its emissions. It’s built about 500 megawatts of renewable-energy capacity, secured more than twice that amount, plans to procure 2,000 megawatts over time, and is pursuing carbon-offset projects, Sasol Chief Executive Officer Simon Baloyi said in an interview last month.