PRETORIA, South Africa, November 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Sasol and Gassnova SF, the Norwegian state-owned enterprise responsible for managing governmental interests related to Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the Union Buildings in Pretoria that will enable Sasol to explore the possibility of becoming a participant in the European CO2 Technology Centre Mongstad (TCM) currently under construction in Norway.

The signing of the MoU by Sasol CE, Pat Davies and Bjorn-Erik Haugan, CEO of Gassnova SF and chairman of TCM DA, took place in the presence of South African President, Jacob Zuma and visiting Norwegian monarchs, King Harald V and Queen Sonja, during their state visit to South Africa.

TCM is a unique international technology cooperation, established to test, verify and demonstrate technology suitable for deployment at large scale CO2- capture facilities. The current TCM partners are Gassnova SF, A/S Norske Shell and Statoil ASA, with Gassnova SF representing the Norwegian State in the project.

The technology centre is currently under construction at Mongstad on the west coast of Norway and will be in operation by the end of 2011. The test facilities are planned to capture 100 000 tons of CO2 per annum.

Sasol is proud that South Africa will soon be represented amongst the world's leading nations in the fight against climate change. "The signing of this MoU is an important development that will support our commitment to reducing the company's Green House Gas emissions," Davies said.

"Sasol will continue to contribute to South Africa's fuel security through its coal-to-liquid fuel technology for some time to come and while there is no single solution to the reduction of GHG emissions, we participate in a number of initiatives such as TCM, to find the optimum mix of solutions. We have set targets to reduce our carbon footprint and, through sound partnerships with the best minds from across the globe, we will produce innovative solutions," Davies said.

Sasol aims to reduce its CO2 emissions by 15% by 2020 (based on 2005 as baseline) as well as lower targets at the absolute level for new CTL projects (30% down by 2030 on a 2005 baseline).

"We are very pleased that Sasol, one of the founding members of the South African Carbon Capture and Storage Center, will participate in the testing of CO2 capture technologies at the technology center," said Bj0rn-Erik Haugan.

"One of TCM's main ambitions is to develop CO2 capture technologies capable of wide national and international deployment. It is therefore a significant step to have a solutions-driven company with Sasol's extensive technical experience as a partner in the venture," added Haugan.

Sasol is an energy business with substantial chemical interests. Based in South Africa and operating worldwide, Sasol is listed on the NYSE and JSE stock exchanges. We are the leading provider of liquid fuels in South Africa and a major international producer of chemicals. Sasol uses proprietary Fischer-Tropsch technologies for the commercial production of synthetic fuels and chemicals from low-grade coal and natural gas. We manufacture more than 200 fuel and chemical products that are sold worldwide. In South Africa we also operate coal mines to provide feedstock for our synthetic fuels plants. Sasol operates the only inland crude oil refinery in South Africa. The group produces crude oil in offshore Gabon, supplies Mozambican natural gas to end- user customers and petrochemical plants in South Africa, and with partners involved in gas-to-liquids fuel joint ventures in Qatar and Nigeria. Internet address: http://www.sasol.com

Disclaimer - Forward-looking statements

We may in this document make statements that are not historical facts and relate to analyses and other information based on forecasts of future results and estimates of amounts not yet determinable. There are forward- looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "believe", "anticipate", "expect","intend", "seek", "will", "plan", "could", "may", "endeavour" and "project"and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements, but are not exclusive means of identifying such statements. By their very nature, forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, and there are risks that predictions, forecasts, projections and other forward-looking statements will not be achieved. If one or more of these risks materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may be very different from those anticipated.

The factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from the plans, objectives, expectations, estimates and intentions expressed in such forward-looking statements are discussed more fully in our annual report under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 on Form20-F filed on October 9, 2009 and in other filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements apply only as of the date on which they are made and Sasol does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any of them, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

    Issued by Sasol and Gassnova SF.
    For further information, please contact:

    Sasol

    Jacqui O'Sullivan, Group Communication Manager
    Direct telephone +27-11-441-3252 | Mobile +27-82-883-9697
    jacqui.osullivan@sasol.com

    Nothemba Noruwana, Group media manager
    Direct telephone +27-11-441-3295 | Mobile +27-82-329-0186
    nothemba.noruwana@sasol.com

    Gassnova

    Bj0rn-Erik Haugan, CEO
    Telephone +47-905-53-394 | beh@gassnova.no

    TCM
    Tore Amundsen, Managing Director
    Telephone +47-900-51-222 | tam@tcmda.no

SOURCE Sasol and Gassnova SF

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