Hanré Rossouw is to step down as CFO and executive director of Sasol on October 31, the group said on Thursday.
The chemicals and energy company’s chair, Steve Westwell, said in a statement that Rossouw joined Sasol on April 4 2022 “and has made a solid contribution towards achieving Future Sasol”.
“We thank Hanré for his leadership during a challenging period and wish him well in his future endeavours,” said Trix Kennealy, chair of the audit committee.
He will remain with Sasol for the financial year-end closing and the publication of the group’s suite of annual reports for the year to end-June 2024, allowing for a structured handover period.
Sasol had commenced the succession process and an announcement would be made in due course, the company said.
On April 23, Sasol blamed reduced equipment availability and operational instability at its Secunda operations for a drop in production at the facility.
It said in a production update for the nine months to end-March that quarter three production was 9% lower than the previous quarter.
Its synfuels operation in Secunda produces refined products, heating fuels, chemicals and other products. Despite the 9% drop in the third quarter, production for the nine months was up 3%, but Sasol has indicated that it will not reach the mid or upper point of its previous production guidance.
“As a result, the production volumes in [in 2024] are expected to be between 6.9-million and 7.1-million tonnes, lower than the guidance of 7.0-million to 7.3-million tonnes,” Sasol said.
It has kept guidance for liquid fuel sales unchanged at 51-million to 54-million barrels.
A 20% drop in the average dollar basket price for chemicals saw the group’s revenue from its chemicals business in Africa, the US and Europe drop by 17% for the period.
This was despite an overall 4% increase in sales volumes across regions. The low prices, it said, were due to lower oil prices and weaker global demand.
Earlier in April, Business Day reported that the companyenergy and chemicals group had been successful in its appeal to have emissions at its prized asset, Secunda, measured differently.
The ruling opens the door for potential legal challenges from environmental activists.
The Secunda plant is regarded as the world’s largest single-point emitter of greenhouse gas.
Panic gripped the group in 2023 when the national air quality officer rejected its request to have sulphur dioxide emissions from its Secunda boiler plant measured differently, putting the petrochemical giant at risk of violating the country’s air quality laws and facing legal consequences.
Environment minister Barbara Creecy upheld its appeal, allowing Sasol to switch to measuring its emissions on load of emission rather than the concentration of particles.
“We will engage with the minister to finalise the regulatory requirements for the decision to take full effect, following which our atmospheric emission licence will have to be varied accordingly,” Sasol said.
According to Sasol’s data, the Secunda plant accounts for 83.7% of its scope 1 and 2 emissions, followed by Sasolburg with 8.4%.
Unique to SA, synthetic fuel production from coal is the single major contributor to scope 1 greenhouse gas emissions in the liquid fuel supply industry.
The Secunda facility converts about 40-million tonnes of coal a year into 150,000 barrels of crude oil a day of liquid synthetic fuels.
In July 2023, SA’s national air quality officer, who oversees the enforcement of the Air Quality Act, rejected Sasol’s request to measure sulphur dioxide emissions from its Secunda boiler plant by rate or load of emission rather than the concentration of particles.
This prompted it to launch an appeal on the grounds that the measurement approach it suggested presented a better solution for the company and the communities surrounding the plant.
With Denene Erasmus
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