Sasol Chevron appoints Fleishman-Hillard to promote African GTL Challenge

Sasol Chevron, a joint venture between Chevron Corporation, one of the world's leading energy companies, and South African petrochemical company Sasol Limited, has begun a global public relations campaign to promote the Sasol Chevron GTL (gas-to-liquid) Challenge.

Fleishman-Hillard has been hired to implement the campaign for the Challenge's team of adventurers as they battle against the clock and some of the most demanding conditions on earth to showcase the new cleaner, greener GTL diesel fuel technology.

The Sasol Chevron GTL Challenge saw a team of twelve men and women in five Toyota vehicles embarking on a symbolic journey from Sasolburg, South Africa to Qatar, to signal the inauguration of the Oryx GTL plant in Qatar on 6th June. One of the team's five vehicles, a Toyota Hilux Raider, dubbed African Renaissance - highlighting the African continent's growing influence on the world's energy industry - is being fuelled from beginning to end with GTL diesel fuel supplied from Sasol's plant in Sasolburg, South Africa.

The team has been challenged by Sasol Chevron to complete the just over 10,000km journey, across six countries in Africa and some of the toughest conditions on the planet, in 46 days, arriving in Doha, Qatar by 5th June in time for the official opening of the US$950 million Oryx GTL production facility.

Fleishman-Hillard has been tasked with securing coverage across Africa as well as secure international coverage. The project has been led by the FH London and Johannesburg offices.

Malcolm Wells, communications executive for Sasol Chevron spelled out the purpose of the challenge: "We want to show the world that Sasol Chevron's new GTL diesel burns significantly cleaner and exceeds every performance standard of conventional oil-derived diesel fuel, even in the toughest terrain. This is an extremely tough challenge for the team but I am confident they will successfully make it to Qatar for the opening of the world's largest and most technologically advanced GTL plant."

The Fleishman-Hillard Johannesburg team is led by SVP, Kevin Welman and Account Manager, Claire Wallace.

A website - www.sasolchevron.com/gtlchallenge - has been created so that people can follow the day-to-day challenges as the team travels across Africa and into the Middle East. Downloadable images and video will be made available on the website.