The Law of Unintended Consequences

INJECTING lead into petrol was -- and still is -- the cheapest, quickest way of jacking up the octane rating. Begun in the 1940s to help piston-driven fighter aircraft fly higher and faster, the practice was continued to zoop up the performance of motor cars and trucks. The Ethyl Corporation of America grew extremely rich as a result. Then along came the Greens and a worldwide attack on the use of lead on the grounds of it being a health hazard. In came the Law of Unintended Consequences. In the hunt for something to replace the octane boosting qualities of lead, the oil companies came up ( at vast expense to themselves, it must be said) with a cocktail of chemicals that did the job but had the side effect of insect spray. Pretty soon, sparrows and other small birds that used to populate world cities, vanished, along with the insects they used to feed on. Law of Unintended Consequence -1-, Common Sense -0-. Win some, lose some. What meanwhile slipped under the Green radar was the introduction of an additive almost as cheap as lead, a manganese-based, complex chemical call MMT. It not only did almost the same job as lead, it did not need massive investment in new plant. Law of Unintended Consequences kicked in again. Manganese is a neurological poison, every bit as dangerous to human health as lead. So bad is MMT that BP refineries around the world refuse to use it. Law of Unintended Consequence -2-, Common Sense -0-. Did this stop our own home-grown Sasol? Did it, hell. South African motorists using Sasol's unleaded fuel get a dose of MMT whether they like it or not.

BP to invest in Jatropha plantations in Swaziland

ACCORDING to The Swaziland Times, BP is leaping into the bio-fuels business in Swaziland -- an interesting development in the light of BP's recent withdrawal from the conventional fuels market in that country. Apparently, in a joint venture with a local company some US$160 million will be invested in the next five years for the development of Jatropha bio-diesel feedstock. The money will allegedly accelerate the planting of jatropha curcas which is a plant whose seeds contain oil and which can survive on marginal land. The newspaper quotes BP’s head of Refining and Marketing Business, Iain Conn , saying, “This joint venture is a further milestone in our strategy to develop real avenues to contribute to global energy supplies in ways that are sustainable and progressive. In the transportation sector, increased blending of bio-components offers one of the few real options for progress". Yes, well and no, fine. Hope you are right, Iain, old boy. But don't hold your breath. This is Africa and its people (particularly the Swazis) are deeply conservative, especially when it comes to matters agricultural.

SASOL'S DUBIOUS DISTINCTION

ONCE more Sasol has managed to get up the nose of the Americans, an inevitable result of the arrogance that has characterised its management ever since its inception. This time, Sasol has run foul of the Yanks by its presence in Iran -- a polymer ( plastics) plant which is one of its three largest capital expenditure projects. The company has been named on the list of errant enterprises drawn up by the Securities and Exchange Commission, raising questions about the honesty of Sasol's mandatory disclosures to the New York Stock Exchange. Sasol is trying to wriggle its way out of this cleft stick by arguing that its polymer plant is not oil or gas or oil exploration -- activities explicitly targeted by the US which considers Iran a "state sponsor of terrorism". Looming on the horizon is the possibility of US sanctions against Sasol, including restrictions on its ability to raise money in the US. Spigot has a few questions for Sasol top management: " Do any of you ever read newspapers? Don't you know Iran is technically at war with the US and has been since 1979?" Just wondering.

Lies, damn lies and statistics

ANYONE who had the misfortune to tune into SAFM this morning would have heard Jeremy Cronin droning on about the wonderful achievements of Castro's Cuba and heard him spouting the usual statistics which demonstrate the achievements of communism in that country -- all of which are to do with things like medicine, education, literacy, employment and so on, Conveniently, Cronin left out the fact that everything else in Cuba is a shambles. It reminded Spigot of the wonderful statistics that flowed out of the old German Democratic Republic (East Germany) before the wall people like Cronin erected to keep people in the workers paradise, came tumbling down in 1989. Once that happened, not only did thousands flee the Marxist paradise, it was soon clear that the statistics were a sham. Spigot fervently hopes he may live long enough to see the same thing demonstrated in Cuba once that old colonial-aristocrat-turned-revolutionary, Fidel Castro, finally goes to meet his maker.

From riches to rags in Zimbabwe

WHEN oil sanctions were imposed on Rhodesia in 1965, Ian Smith's Government set up a central petroleum buying agency to import petrol and diesel. This was then distributed to the oil companies for them to retail through their service stations. When Mugabe took over in 1980, this agency became NOCZIM -- the National Oil Company of Zimbabwe. After that, it was all downhill. NOCZIM became a slush fund to be plundered. It soon racked up so much debt and was such a tardy payer that no one would supply it. Not even Libya. The oil companies then came to the rescue. They organised their own imports and for a while, things went relatively smoothly. Then the Mugabe Government's systematic destruction of the Zimbabwean dollar led to hyper inflation. Even local subsidiaries of international oil companies like BP and Shell were unable to pay for imports. In stepped private enterprise. Those who had the money bought fuel in South Africa and stored it in oil company tanks for a fee. This is the fuel that is now being systematically robbed by Mugabe's thugs. When this fuel runs out, in a week if they are lucky, there will be no more. Mad Bob will have achieved his ambition. Zimbabwe will have been restored to its original pre-colonial pristine state -- a place where the wheel was unknown, where the chief ruled absolutely, where all ownership was communal, where people wore skins and the only legitimate ambition was to own a cow. Oh it was a paradise! And women did all the work. Well done, Bob! You truly deserve all the applause you get from your South African supporters.