Chemicals and energy group Sasol has announced a significant downward revision to its 2022 production forecast from its Secunda operations in Mpumalanga, owing to ongoing coal production problems.

The JSE-listed company told shareholders on Tuesday that output from Secunda would be between 6.7-million and 6.8-million tons during the 2022 financial year.

The revised forecast represents a major decrease relative to the 7.3-million to 7.4-million tons estimate of October, which was itself a downward revision from an initial forecast of 7.4-million to 7.5-million tons.

Sasol reported that there had been three major production impacts at it mining unit since the end of October, which resulted in more than 1-million tons of lost coal production.

“The most significant safety incidents which occurred since October 2021 include a fire at our Shondoni mine (no fatalities), an underground water reservoir incident at our Bosjesspruit mine (3 fatalities), and a high-wall failure at our Syferfontein mine (no fatalities).

“Collectively, these incidents contributed to just over 50% of the coal production shortfall,” Sasol said in a statement.

Coal operations were also negatively impacted by adverse weather conditions, operational challenges and a slower-than-expected ramp-up to full calendar operations, while external coal supply had been interrupted by wet weather.

The reduced coal availability and coal quality had led Sasol to reduce its production rates at Secunda until mining productivity rates had increased and stockpiles rebuilt.

“We recognise that our production challenges may impact on our ability to supply customers.

“We are currently reviewing multiple options including different sources of supply to supplement our production shortfall where feasible,” Sasol said in a statement.

The company said it would provide a production and sales update in January.