South African oil, gas and petrochemical company Sasol says that it is evaluating several new gas-to-liquids (GTL) and coal-to-liquids (CTL) opportunities over and above the ventures it is currently developing with partners in Qatar and Nigeria. One of Sasol's strategic growth drivers is the commercialisation of GTL & CTL.

One such opportunity is in Algeria. The Algerian Ministry of Mines & Energy and Sonatrach, the Algerian national oil company, are soliciting bids for a 34 000 barrel per day GTL project at Arzew using potential gas reserves in the Tinrhert area. Sasol Chevron, the joint venture between Sasol and Chevron Corporation, headquartered in the USA, submitted a non-binding technical proposal at the end of September 2005. The Algerian authorities have set the middle of 2006 as the date for commercial submissions.

Another opportunity is the USA. Recent changes to the USA's Energy Policy Act resulted in renewed interest in CTL projects in the US. Sasol is currently in the early stages of evaluating several potential CTL ventures in the USA. Again, these studies are in pre-feasibility stage and Sasol has taken no decision whether or not to pursue any of these opportunities.