Sasol sheds stake in pipe bringing Mozambican gas

South African state-owned Sasol has struck a deal to sell its 30% interest in the 865-km ROMPCO pipeline that carries gas from Mozambique's onshore fields to South Africa for $361mn, the company announced on May 14.

Sasol is selling the share to a consortium of Reatile Group Proprietary Ltd and Ideas Fund, managed by African Infrastructure Investment Managers Proprietary Ltd. It will receive 4.15bn rand ($290mn) initially and a deferred payment of up to 1bn rand ($71mn), if certain milestones are achieved by June 30, 2024, the company said. Sasol is retaining a further 20% stake in the pipeline.

The sale is subject to ROMPCO's other shareholders, the South African and Mozambican governments, waiving their pre-emptive rights to Sasol's shareholding. The transaction is expected to become effective in the second half of this year.

The deal will help Sasol clear some of its debt. It closed the sale of a 50% stake in three plants at its Louisiana petrochemicals complex to LyondellBasell in early December. The company also agreed on the sale of a minority share in a gas-to-liquids plant in Nigeria to Chevron last year, and agreed in December to sell its 49% stake in Central Termica de Ressano Garcia, Mozambique's first permanent large-scale gas-fired power plant.