Sasol Ltd. (SOL), the world’s largest maker of motor fuel from coal, headed for its lowest close in seven months as a drop in oil prices outweighed the company’s forecast that annual earnings per share will jump. The stock fell as much as 2 percent to 333.20 rand and was down 1.2 percent at 335.80 rand at 12:48 p.m. in Johannesburg. A close at that level would be the lowest since Dec. 22. Oil for September delivery sank 0.6 percent to $96.82 a barrel in New York, bringing this week’s loss to 3.1 percent, on concern a failure to reach a deal on raising the U.S. debt limit may cause the nation to default, threatening the economy of the world’s biggest crude consumer. Sasol earlier said earnings per share for the 12 months through June are expected to increase by 18 percent to 28 percent compared with the previous year as it managed costs and as strong global commodity prices countered the effect of the rand’s resilience against the dollar. South Africa’s currency appreciated 13 percent during the company’s financial year. Jui Kulkarni, an analyst at Afrifocus Securities Pty Ltd., said Sasol’s forecast was higher than her estimates and the recent decline in the oil price may be behind the fall in Sasol’s shares. “You have a market which is very well supplied and there are demand questions cropping up again and again, not just from the U.S. but also out of Europe,” Kulkarni said by telephone from Mumbai. To contact the reporter on this story: Stephen Gunnion in Johannesburg at sgunnion@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Gavin Serkin at gserkin@bloomberg.net

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