Dear Mr. Berko: Please tell me about Sasol, a synthetic oil and gas producer in South Africa. Do synthetic diesel, airplane fuel and gas really work? How come we don’t use it at reduced prices? Is it true that Sasol developed this process to make fuel for the Germans to use in World War II? Do you think this stock is a good investment for a conservative person? Please address your financial questions to Malcolm Berko, P.O. Box 1416, Boca Raton, Fla. 33429 or e-mail him at malber@adelphia.net.© Copley News Service J.W., Detroit Dear J.W.:

Wow, that’s a barrel of questions! But before I discuss Sasol, we need background.

Inarguably among the most serious threats to the economic, social and political safety of this country is its dependence on imported oil. Since the oil crisis of 1973, many people are astonished that Congress and the White House have done nothing to ameliorate the problem. However there is a super solution called “coal hydrogenation,” developed by Standard Oil of New Jersey (now Exxon Mobil Corp.) in 1930. It’s a simple process, and the resulting fuels cost much less than the fuels produced by Big Oil.

But Exxon, Shell and the other Big Oils have billions of dollars of vested interests in oil properties, infrastructure equipment, etc. And hydrogenation would give Big Oil lethal gas pains. So to protect their vested interests, the oil companies covertly purchased influence from Congress (which is easy) to keep coal hydrogenation as far from the United States as possible.

Recently a close acquaintance, a congressional representative whose vote is not for sale, told me that “active support for coal hydrogenation could cause me personal and political damage. Those oil companies are seriously nasty.”

In 1934 about 85 percent of Germany’s oil was imported, and the Reich needed oil independence to fuel its factories and war machinery. The solution used by the Nazis was a process developed in the United States by Standard Oil of New Jersey. It is called coal hydrogenation, and because Germany had immense coal deposits, its supply of fuel and lubricants was almost unlimited. Between 1934 and 1942, Jersey Standard financed and guided Germany’s hydrogenation process, producing the synthetic fuels that powered Hitler’s war machine.

Back then, Jersey Standard had enough congressmen on its private payroll to do anything it wanted to do. As a result, the actions of its officers and its board of directors cost thousands of American lives.

Now the big companies prefer to drill for oil, process and sell products at wallet-breaking prices rather than assist America in finding a dependable alternative.

Sasol Ltd. (SSL-$36.64) is based in Rosebank, South Africa, and trades on the New York Stock Exchange.

SSL had $11 billion in revenues last year and earned $2.29 a share. The company produces hundreds of millions of gallons of synthetic fuel from coal and has developed a very cost-efficient process that produces liquid fuels from natural gas.

During the past 52 weeks SSL traded between $46 and $28, and the 87-cent dividend currently yields 2.4 percent.

Net profit margins exceed 21 percent, return on equity exceeds 27 percent and its book value of $13.65 per share has grown in each of the last 10 years. SSL has $1.5 billion in cash, $2.5 billion in debt and 630 million shares out. Zacks and Prudential have a “strong buy” on the stock. The suits on the Street believe that SSL’s income should grow at a 12 percent annual rate.

I’m not an SSL fan. However, it may have good short-term potential and may have steady long-term appreciation in price and dividend.