Friday, September 20, 2024
Eskom and energy and chemical company, Sasol, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to "collaboratively discover and study possible long term liquified natural gas (LNG) requirements".
That is based on a joint statement by the two corporations, following the signing ceremony from the MoU on Friday.
"The collaboration aims to find out the probable volumes that South Africa demands to establish a viable LNG import market, along with the enabling infrastructure, and may be facilitated by federal government-to-federal government relations in which required."
"This initiative concentrates on applying gasoline for energy generation to provide necessary base load electric power and position gas being a important enabler of re-industrialisation, though also making certain ongoing supply to the market by unlocking world wide LNG resources.
"Furthermore, the collaboration will contribute to eskom learnerships 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 check here South Africa.
"As part of its revised gas strategy, Sasol is working on enabling the future supply of LNG to South Africa eskom learnerships 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.