PetroSA plans to increase gas imports from Mozambique expects the first gas flows from an agreement with Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos (ENH) to arrive later this year, aiming to bolster supplies ahead of possible shortages, according to Reuters.
With a gas marketing license granted by regulators in March, PetroSA moved quickly to secure an initial deal for 2 petajoules of gas per year (PJ/a), with the possibility of increasing to 200 petajoules eventually. This amount will be enough to supply dozens of industrial gas users, who currently rely mainly on the South African petrochemical company Sasol, which supplies around 190 PJ/a.
Sasol has warned customers that it will significantly restrict supplies within two years, as its gas fields in Mozambique run out.
PetroSA intends to form a joint venture (JV) with ENH to attract potential gas customers in South Africa and replicate the model in Mossel Bay to market the gas from the offshore fields discovered by TotalEnergies, opening a new tab for the Cape Town market.
“In Mossel Bay, we will potentially consider two different JVs, one with TotalEnergies for Brulpadda (field) and another for the Block 9 development, but the main entity that will market gas for the group is PetroSA Gas Trading,” explained Sesakho Magadla, the company’s chief operating officer.
ENH’s gas sales agreement involves importing the product through ROMPCO’s pipeline, which connects the Pande and Temane fields to South Africa, before supplying users through Sasol’s pipeline network in the north of the country.
PetroSA is currently negotiating two gas transportation agreements with Sasol and ROMPCO, a gas pipeline company, which run from Mozambique to Sasol’s petrochemical complex in Secunda, South Africa, where it operates the world’s largest coal-to-liquids plant.
