Sasol Signs Africa's First Commercial SAF Supply Deal with White Desert for Antarctic Flights
Why It MattersThe deal signals African SAF production moving from concept to commercial supply, positioning the continent's refiners to compete for international airline demand as global mandates tighten.
Sasol has entered what it describes as Africa's first commercial sustainable aviation fuel supply agreement, partnering with polar travel operator White Desert to fuel flights from Cape Town to Antarctica. The co-processed SAF is produced using cooking oil and vegetable oil at Sasol's Natref plant in Sasolburg, which has a capacity of 108,500 barrels per day and primarily runs on crude oil, and is in the process of converting into a hybrid bio-refinery.
White Desert operates one flight per week from Cape Town to Antarctica during its November-to-February season, and the first flight using Sasol's SAF, on an Airbus A340-600, is scheduled for November. Danie Cronje, Sasol's senior vice president for business building, strategy and technology, told Reuters the company is seeking similar deals with larger European and Middle Eastern airlines; White Desert previously sourced SAF from Europe before switching to Sasol following its SAF certification.
Depending on customer demand, Natref is targeting production of one to two million litres of SAF this year, around 16 million litres in 2027, and up to 100 million litres by 2030. Separately, Kenya Airways and Rubis Energy Kenya, a unit of France's Rubis, signed a non-binding deal in May to develop what they described as Africa's first dedicated SAF refinery, a greenfield plant using animal fats and waste vegetable oils intended to meet EU sustainability criteria.
