Friday, September 20, 2024
Eskom and energy and chemical enterprise, Sasol, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to "collaboratively discover and research prospective future liquified natural gas (LNG) requirements".
This is according to a joint statement by the two firms, following the signing ceremony of the MoU on Friday.
"The collaboration aims to find out the probable volumes that South Africa needs to establish a practical LNG import market, along with the enabling infrastructure, and may be facilitated by govt-to-governing administration relations exactly where needed."
"This initiative focuses on working with fuel for ability generation to deliver critical base load energy and position gas for a crucial enabler of re-industrialisation, while also guaranteeing continued supply to the industry by unlocking worldwide 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 term. The parties will also engage other state entities to enable an LNG value chain in South Africa.
"As eskom 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 more info 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.