Sanctioning Apartheid - KORA

Sanctioning Aptheid
SASOL'S chinam, D. P. de Villiers, South AErica's dependency on
imprted crude oil will steadily grow in the years ahead:
The fuel consumption of the Republic of South Africa
is inmesing and the ability of SA~OL to bring about
production increases in its three existing factories will
decrease in time. This makes South Africa more
dependent on imported petrolem'
SASOLYs expIoitation is also highly unprofitable. The price at
which SA skso~ pduces lipid fuels is estimated at $75 per
barrel of oil equivalent. Lastly, a major problem with the SASOL
prooess is that it produces too much petrol and too little diesely
a ratio of 23:1, against a 1:l ratio from oil refineries. Road
tmqmtem and the police and military require diesel, not petrol.
No additional plants using SASOL technology are planned by
the South African government or by private companies. South
Africa cannot afford to build more capacity in order to achieve
e m near autafchy in fuel production. To bring about 70 percent
selfddmcy in 1995, it has been estimated that another
invesbment of $16-ZON million would be requhd. From 1995
onward, one new plant would have to be constructed every three
years to maintain the then existing level of production capacity.
As a strategic response to the oil embargo, new synthetic
fuel pmjeds are under consideration by the South African
government. All of these are still in the feasibility-study phasey
and no definite decisions have yet been made. These projects
have in common that, if ded through, they would largely be
dependent on foreign technology and capital.
Oil ntuJ Gas Exploration
In its search for oil, the South African government, through
the state owned company, WEKOR, has akeady spent at least
Ra50 million, mainly on offshore exploration. However, sizeable
and commercially viable oil deposits have not been found since
SmOR started its operations at the end of the 1960s. Only a
relatively small deposit of gas has been found south of Mossel
Bay. A~~ to SOEKOR, the Mossel Bay field has reserves of
1m billion standard cubic feet. sOmOR expects to yield a
production of 25,000 barrels a day in 1992 by conversion of gas