Friday, September 20, 2024
Eskom and energy and chemical business, Sasol, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to "collaboratively discover and research prospective potential liquified natural gas (LNG) requirements".
This can be based on a joint statement by the two companies, following the signing ceremony from the MoU on Friday.
"The collaboration aims to find out the possible volumes that South Africa calls for to ascertain a viable LNG import sector, together with the enabling infrastructure, and can be facilitated by authorities-to-government relations where by important."
"This initiative focuses on using fuel for electrical power generation to provide necessary base load electricity and position gas for a essential enabler of re-industrialisation, whilst also guaranteeing continued supply to the marketplace by unlocking global 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 sasol bursaries 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 eskom South Africa's energy market, while outlining sasol careers the challenges associated with the long-term commitments required for LNG imports," the statement said.