The world's leading energy and chemicals company Sasol opened a new chemical plant in Nanjing, the capital city of east China's Jiangsu Province, according to the company.

A view of the main Sasol Limited plant near Johannesburg, South Africa, January 3, 2017. [Photo: IC]

Investing about 100 million U.S. dollars, the South Africa-based company built the plant covering 143,000 square meters in the city's Jiangbei new material technology park to produce detergent, lubricant and other products.

The company has its first Asian wholly owned production base in the city, and has been producing surfactant products there since 1992.

"Sasol has been providing the Chinese market with high-quality surfactant products for more than 25 years," said Bongani Nqwababa, joint president and chief executive officer of the company. "We must get close to our clients since an estimated 40 percent of the world's demand for special chemical products is from China and 60 percent from Asia by 2020."

"The plant will help the company expand a growing market, and it is just the beginning," he added.