Friday, September 20, 2024

Eskom and energy and chemical company, Sasol, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to "collaboratively explore and study prospective future liquified natural gas (LNG) requirements".

This can be based on a joint statement by the two businesses, following the signing ceremony of the MoU on Friday.

"The collaboration aims to find out the likely volumes that South Africa demands to establish a viable LNG import marketplace, along with the enabling infrastructure, and will be facilitated by governing administration-to-government relations where necessary."

"This initiative concentrates on working with gasoline for electricity generation to supply essential base load electrical energy and position gas as a vital enabler of re-industrialisation, when also making certain ongoing supply to the marketplace by unlocking global sasol vacancies 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 read more contracting".

"This will support the gas requirements for Eskom’s planned coal power here station repowering and conversion to gas in the long term. The parties will also engage other state entities to enable an LNG value chain in South Africa.

"As part of its 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.