The Competition Commission has found that Sasol Gas, a unit of petrochemicals giant Sasol, had markups on natural piped gas of up to 72% and that 'the excessive pricing has continued for almost a decade and is ongoing'. So it's throwing the book at Sasol, which has challenged the commission's jurisdiction on this matter.

The Competition Commission has accused Sasol Gas of contravening the Competition Act by excessive pricing of natural gas. The JSE-listed company is the only supplier of natural gas piped in South Africa, and that kind of monopoly often invites scrutiny.

"The Commission found that Sasol Gas extracted mark-ups of up to 72%. The excessive pricing has continued for almost a decade and is ongoing," the commission said in a statement.

"This prosecution stems from three complaints against Sasol Gas which were lodged, in early 2022, with the Commission, by Egoli Gas (Pty) Ltd (Egoli Gas), the Industrial Gas Users Association of South Africa (IGUA-SA), and Spring Lights Gas (Pty) Ltd (Spring Lights). The complainants alleged, amongst others, that Sasol Gas engaged in excessive pricing of natural piped gas in contravention of the Competition Act."

Sasol sources natural gas from the Pande and Temane gas fields in Mozambique and the commodity is piped from there to the company's facility at Secunda in Mpumalanga.

The commission said it "relied on publicly available information to assess the prices charged by Sasol Gas to the complainants against the costs of supplying natural piped gas" and that on a "conservative basis" the average markups were...