Friday, September 20, 2024
Eskom and energy and chemical enterprise, Sasol, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to "collaboratively explore and research prospective long term liquified natural gas (LNG) requirements".
That is based on a joint statement by the two firms, following the signing ceremony of the MoU on Friday.
"The collaboration aims to determine the prospective volumes that South Africa involves to ascertain a viable LNG import market, together with the enabling infrastructure, and can be facilitated by government-to-govt relations the place required."
"This initiative focuses on working with gas for power generation to deliver crucial base load energy and position gas for a crucial enabler of re-industrialisation, while 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 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, read more 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 here for LNG imports," the statement sasol bursaries said.