South Africa's petrochemicals and basic chemicals in the context of South Africa's energy transition: Sasol's Secunda coal-to-chemicals-and-liquids facility

The central question of this paper and policy brief is: what is the future of the South African petrochemicals and plastics, ammonia, fertiliser, explosives and other chemical value chains of the Secunda petrochemical complex in the light of Sasol’s stated greenhouse gas emission reduction plans and other assessed business constraints? Given the risks that a declining Secunda output pose to the South African economy, this paper identifies several possible economic development substitutes, roughly compared against policy objectives, as possible targets for further detailed quantitative and financial analysis. The policy brief draws on the information in the main report. This research was supported by the African Climate Foundation.