Friday, September 20, 2024
Eskom and energy and chemical enterprise, Sasol, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to "collaboratively explore and research prospective long term liquified natural gas (LNG) requirements".
This is according to a joint statement by the two providers, following the signing ceremony from the MoU on Friday.
"The collaboration aims to find out the prospective volumes that South Africa involves to determine a feasible LNG import market, combined with the enabling infrastructure, and will be facilitated by govt-to-authorities relations exactly where essential."
"This initiative concentrates on using gas for electric power generation to provide crucial base load electricity and position gas being a vital enabler of re-industrialisation, whilst also guaranteeing continued supply to the marketplace by unlocking world LNG resources.
"Furthermore, the collaboration will contribute to enhancing South Africa’s energy mix and enable the country's energy transition and decarbonisation," the joint statement read.
The MoU is expected to "explore sourcing gas within South Africa, the Southern African Development Community region, and other parts of the African continent, in addition to evaluating long-term LNG contracting".
"This will support the gas requirements for Eskom’s planned coal power station repowering and conversion to gas in the long more info term. The parties will also engage other state entities to enable an LNG value chain in South Africa.
"As part of its eskom learnerships revised gas strategy, Sasol is working on enabling the future supply of LNG to South Africa by collaborating with companies such as Eskom, existing and future customers, suppliers, and infrastructure developers.
"The research findings from the first phase of the Sasol-Eskom collaboration will guide the necessary role players and investors required to offer the best prospects for South Africa's energy market, while outlining the challenges associated with the long-term commitments required for LNG imports," the statement said.