Sasol faces competition in CTL industry

[SimonPB]

http://www.busrep.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=3860882 - hmmmm

[#2]

Reckon it'll be good for Sol. If the US was to provide incentives for CTL technology, Sol will be in a great position to licence its technology to US companies. ..it's just that darned poisoned air thing that's getting in the way..

[SimonPB]

except they now have a cvompetitor in a field where I thought they were a decade ahead of everybody else? Seems I was wrong.

[#4]

The US has been flirting with FS technology since the 50's, but lack of government support meant it did not go very far. Cheap oil made it unsexy. In recent years coal producers (the US has some of the world's largest reserves) have been sponsoring research. I think there are even a few test crackers in operation. Still, it's not just a question of turning coal into liquid fuel. It's how cheaply you can do it. In this, I reckon Sol still has the lead. Their systems are ahead of everybody else - and if incentives are introduced, they will definitely be courted as a partner for ctl projects.

[kr_pto]

and a recent article on their issues in middle east raises an interesting point, in that it is a difficult technology and one can encounter huge problems. but for them they have many years and locally built expertise in the FT technology to be able to draw on. for competitiors it is a reasonably new game. so i recon it is one thing to build a plant and become a potential competitor, it will be another thing once they are efficiently producing. on that one, time alone will tell.
then again competition is generally healthy, if for no other reason in this case because of the sometimes hypocritical stance of the american gov to external competition/threats. the fact that this is an american company should encourage their gov to support the advances through incentives (not to mention their fear of dependance on the middle east). so long as they dont somehow disadvantage old SOLlie in the process.

[#6]

Wouln't see how Sol could be significantly disadvantaged. The push for ctl in the US is coming from coal producers, not the energy sector. They will of course want to steer incentives to local companies, but even so, Sol would be a logical jv or technology partner for a US energy company trying to build it's own FS plant.

[kr_pto]

for sure, i agree that it probably wont be a problem in the end. especially since SA is hardly on the scale of a China trying to buy up an oil company and in the process losing some ports contracts.