Friday, September 20, 2024
Eskom and energy and chemical company, Sasol, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to "collaboratively discover and research possible future liquified natural gas (LNG) requirements".
That is according to a joint statement by the two organizations, following the signing ceremony from the MoU on Friday.
"The collaboration aims to find out the potential volumes that South Africa requires to ascertain a practical LNG import market place, together with the enabling infrastructure, and will be facilitated by federal government-to-governing administration relations in which vital."
"This initiative focuses on employing fuel for energy generation to supply necessary base load electrical energy and position gas for a key enabler of re-industrialisation, whilst also making certain continued supply to the marketplace by unlocking world wide 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 eskom learnerships 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 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 here 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.