JOHANNESBURG, April 25,
2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Sasol has published its
production and sales performance metrics for the nine months ended
31 March 2022 on the Company´s
website at www.sasol.com, under the Investor Centre section:
https://www.sasol.com/investor-centre/financial-reporting/business-performance-metrics
Sasol is continuing to manage the consequences of the heavy
rainfall and accompanying floods experienced in KwaZulu-Natal and
assess the impact on the business. We are supporting our employees
and communities during this challenging period. The situation has
resulted in a force majeure declaration on the export of certain
chemical products and our Q4 FY22 volume outlook could be impacted
subject to the extent of infrastructure damage and the timing of
the recovery and restoration of key infrastructure and
utilities.
We will update the market of any material impacts in due
course.
OIL HEDGING UPDATE
Sasol has made significant progress in deleveraging its balance
sheet through a combination of asset divestments, operational
actions and now more supportive pricing. Despite this improvement,
leverage remained above target levels at 31
December 2021 along with ongoing volatility and
unprecedented uncertainty about the macro outlook.
On this basis the hedging programme has been kept in place to
mitigate downside pricing risks and ensure that Sasol can execute
its strategy with confidence. Given Sasol's improved financial
position the oil hedge cover ratio for financial year 2023 was
reduced to ~40% compared to the ~69% in financial year 2022. This
includes of 80% of total Synfuels synthetic crude oil production
and 90% of Sasol's share of Oryx production.
On the back of the recent increase in oil prices as a result of
the Russia/Ukraine conflict, Sasol has progressed the
implementation of the financial year 2023 hedging strategy and has
now executed 85% of the oil hedging mandate. This uses zero costs
collars to provide downside protection below ~ US$63,03 per barrel together with a higher cap of
~ US$91,62 per barrel.
In line with Sasol's risk management policy, as the balance
sheet continues to deleverage and so is able to absorb more
downside risk the hedge cover ratios are expected to decrease
further.
The Company will however continue to update the market on any
changes to our financial risk management positions in our quarterly
market disclosures.
For further information, please contact:
Sasol Investor Relations,
Tiffany Sydow, Investor Relations
Officer
Telephone: +27 (0) 71 673 1929
investor.relations@sasol.com
Disclaimer - Forward-looking statements
Sasol may, in this document, make certain statements that are
not historical facts and relate to analyses and other information
which are based on forecasts of future results and estimates of
amounts not yet determinable. These statements may also relate to
our future prospects, expectations, developments, and business
strategies. Examples of such forward-looking statements include,
but are not limited to, the impact of the novel coronavirus
(COVID-19) pandemic, and measures taken in response, on Sasol's
business, results of operations, markets, employees, financial
condition and liquidity; the effectiveness of any actions taken by
Sasol to address or limit any impact of COVID-19 on its business;
the capital cost of our projects and the timing of project
milestones; our ability to obtain financing to meet the funding
requirements of our capital investment programme, as well as to
fund our ongoing business activities and to pay dividends;
statements regarding our future results of operations and financial
condition, and regarding future economic performance including cost
containment, cash conservation programmes and business optimisation
initiatives; recent and proposed accounting pronouncements and
their impact on our future results of operations and financial
condition; our business strategy, performance outlook, plans,
objectives or goals; statements regarding future competition,
volume growth and changes in market share in the industries and
markets for our products; our existing or anticipated investments,
acquisitions of new businesses or the disposal of existing
businesses, including estimates or projection of internal rates of
return and future profitability; our estimated oil, gas and coal
reserves; the probable future outcome of litigation, legislative,
regulatory and fiscal developments, including statements regarding
our ability to comply with future laws and regulations; future
fluctuations in refining margins and crude oil, natural gas and
petroleum and chemical product prices; the demand, pricing and
cyclicality of oil, gas and petrochemical product prices; changes
in the fuel and gas pricing mechanisms in South Africa and their effects on prices, our
operating results and profitability; statements regarding future
fluctuations in exchange and interest rates and changes in credit
ratings; total shareholder return; our current or future products
and anticipated customer demand for these products; assumptions
relating to macroeconomics; climate change impacts and our climate
change strategies, our development of sustainability within our
Energy and Chemicals Businesses, our energy efficiency improvement,
carbon and GHG emission reduction targets, our net zero carbon
emissions ambition and future low-carbon initiatives, including
relating to green hydrogen and sustainable aviation fuel; our
estimated carbon tax liability; cyber security; and statements of
assumptions underlying such statements. Words such as "believe",
"anticipate", "expect", "intend", "seek", "will", "plan", "could",
"may", "endeavour", "target", "forecast" and "project" and similar
expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements but
are not the exclusive means of identifying such statements. By
their very nature, forward-looking statements involve inherent
risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, and there are
risks that the predictions, forecasts, projections, and other
forward-looking statements will not be achieved. If one or more of
these risks materialise, or should underlying assumptions prove
incorrect, our actual results may differ materially from those
anticipated. You should understand that a number of important
factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the
plans, objectives, expectations, estimates and intentions expressed
in such forward-looking statements. These factors and others are
discussed more fully in our most recent annual report on Form 20-F
filed on 22 September 2021 and in
other filings with the United States Securities and Exchange
Commission. The list of factors discussed therein is not
exhaustive; when relying on forward-looking statements to make
investment decisions, you should carefully consider foregoing
factors and other uncertainties and events, and you should not
place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Forward-looking
statements apply only as of the date on which they are made, and we
do not undertake any obligation to update or revise any of them,
whether as a result of new information, future events or
otherwise.
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SOURCE Sasol Limited