Big oil is struggling. The world's oil-producing majors such as BP and Shell are collectively carrying 10 times as much debt as they did in 2008, according to Bloomberg. As demand for oil remains weak, inventories remain high and economies flounder, the balance sheets of oil companies are seeing cash stockpiles disappear.Sasol joint CEO Bongani Nqwababa said this week that the company had taken the decision some years ago to move from a progressive dividend policy to a cover-based policy of 2.2% to 2.8%.Maintaining this in light of its Lake Charles build is an issue that troubles analysts, but the group's full-year financials, due on September 12, are likely to show relative strength.story_article_left1"The other big oil companies have stuck with a progressive dividend, which is unsustainable at this time," Nqwababa said, referring to the practice of taking on yet more debt to sustain dividend payouts to support share prices.Oil prices crashed during 2014, reaching a low of $26 per barrel earlier this year. The world's oil majors began cancelling or delaying exploration projects for the next five years, with an expectation that prices would remain low for longer than expected."We're expecting $40 per barrel in 2016 and 2017, while in 2018's financial year we are expecting prices of $57 per barrel. In the long term thereafter, we're convinced the oil price will recover because it's a consumable commodity," Nqwababa said."Our price in 2018 is higher because we assume that equilibrium will be reached. Because there's been a cut globally in capital projects for exploration, there's a real risk there might be a spike in prices. It takes a while to move from exploration to production. It might spike as high as $100, but we're not banking on that," he said...