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Sasol writing off $760m on Canadian shale gas adventure, profits drop 30%
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(Bloomberg) — Sasol Ltd. said full-year profit will drop as much as 30 percent as the world’s biggest producer of motor fuel from coal is hurt by lower crude prices and it booked 11.5 billion rand ($760 million) of impairments on its share of a shale-gas asset in Canada and because of a decline in natural-gas prices.
So-called headline earnings will decrease 10 percent to 30 percent in the year to June 30 from 49.76 rand a year earlier, the Johannesburg-based company said in a statement Monday.
Sasol wrote down 7.4 billion rand of its share in the Montney shale asset in Canada in December and will recognize a further writedown of about 4.1 billion rand because of lower natural-gas prices, which have fallen 12 percent since July last year. Brent crude, to which the producer’s revenue is linked, has dropped 20 percent in the period.