Integrated energy and chemicals company Sasol’s New Business Development group executive Ernst Oberholster began his duties in his new position this month, which entail overseeing Sasol’s current largest projects, such as the Canadian gas acquisitions and the Uzbeksitan gas-to-liquids (GTL) project.

The appointment of Oberholster was announced by CEO David Constable last month at the company’s year-end financial results. Constable noted that the appointment was strategic because, as a Sasol employee of more than 23 years, Oberholster played a leading role in the international energy and new business development arenas.

The appointment came after senior group executive Lean Strauss announced early in the year that he would retire at the end of September, after having been at Sasol for 30 years and being pivotal in contributing to Sasol’s growth and development.

Formerly the MD of Sasol New Business Development, Oberholster has worked closely with Strauss, which not only gave him exposure to Sasol’s current projects but also enabled him to develop Sasol New Business Development as a primary negotiator in many of Sasol’s key projects and joint ventures.

Sasol mentioned at its year-end financial results presentation in September that its Uzbekistan GTL front-end engineering design (FEED) activities were progressing well and were expected to be completed during the last quarter of the 2013 calendar year.

The company regularly reviews the project’s progress and, as a result of the magnitude of its growth portfolio and the siginificant capital required for its South African operations, the company’s board approved the decrease in its shareholding in the Uzbekistan GTL project from 44.5% to 25.5% at the end of the FEED phase.

However, Sasol notes that the Uzbekistan project remains an important project in Sasol’s GTL growth portfolio and that the business case for the project remains robust.

Despite Sasol’s Canadian shale gas assets being under pressure, owing to the low gas price and high depreciation of the economy, the company is derisking the asset to increase the ramp-up of the development activities once the gas price increases.

Sasol Canada’s upstream natural gas assets are located in one of the most prolific shale gas plays in North America – the Montney shale basin, in north-east British Columbia.

Sasol also notes that its partnership with independent oil and gas exploration company Talisman Energy will allow for the development of the Farrell Creek and Cypress A assets within the Montney formation. The partnership agreement also involves a spending commitment of at least $1.1-billion during the development period, from 2015 to 2024, subject to a requirement of economic viability of the play.

Having been the driving force behind the initiation of the Uzbekistan GTL and Candian gas acquisitions, Oberholster also serves as a director on several Sasol boards and as a member of several Sasol group committees.

Constable stressed that Oberholster’s experience as the GM of fuels marketing and his responsibility for supply, refining and planning within this field in the past would prove to be an advantage for him in his new role as group executive.