Africa Energy to produce first gas from South Africa's biggest gas field in 2033
Africa Energy Corp, a Canadian-listed company, aims to begin production of South Africa's biggest gas discovery by 2033. Its CEO made the announcement on Tuesday as it pushed ahead with a project that former operator TotalEnergies abandoned.
The company is waiting for regulatory approval on a revised environmental authorisation in order to survey Block 11B/12B of South Africa's south coast.
South Africa is diversifying away from coal-fired electricity generation by using domestic gas. A flurry new projects are being pursued, including the first liquefied gas import terminal on the east coast.
Robert Nicolella, from Africa Energy's offices in Cape Town, said that "our 11B/12B native gas should be very cost-competitive compared to imported LNG."
Nicolella stated that the company is evaluating different ways to market gas. However, its preference would be to supply gas to a gas to power plant. South Africa aims to build 6,000 megawatts worth of new gas-powered power plants.
The CEO of Africa Energy said that the company is in discussions with former national oil companies PetroSA and Brulpadda to use their infrastructure to land gas at Mossel Bay from the Brulpadda field.
TotalEnergies was the first to propose using PetroSA infrastructure, including the FA offshore platform on Block 9, in order to accelerate production.
The plan was to connect Block 11B/12B with existing subsea pipes that lead to the FA platform, and then on to Mossel Bay.
It could be an alternative commercial option. Nicolella stated that using PetroSA infrastructure was an option.
Main Street 1549, a subsidiary of Africa Energy that is majority owned by the local company, was left to operate Block 11B/12B when TotalEnergies as well as joint venture partners QatarEnergy & Canadian Natural Resources opted out of the project in 2013.
TotalEnergies announced its withdrawal in July last year, stating that it was "too difficult to economically develop" the gas discoveries and monetize them for the domestic market. It did not elaborate.
According to the website of Africa Energy Corp, Main Street will own 75% and Arostyle Investments 25% respectively. (Reporting and editing by Sfundo parakozov, Jan Harvey and Wendell Roelf)
(source: Reuters)
