PetroSA expects gas to start flowing this year

PetroSA expected the first flows of gas into SA from a deal with Mozambique’s national energy company ENH later in 2024, officials said, amid efforts to shore up supplies ahead of a potentially crippling shortage.

Handed a gas trading licence by regulators in March, stateowned oil and gas company PetroSA has moved quickly to secure a deal for an initial 2 petajoules of gas a year (PJ/a), with scope to rise to 200 petajoules eventually.

That would be enough to supply scores of industrial gas users, including steelmaker ArcelorMittal, which relies on about 190 PJ/a, mainly supplied by Sasol. The petrochemical firm has warned customers that it would significantly restrict supplies in a couple of years as its Mozambican gas fields ran dry.

PetroSA wants to form a joint venture with ENH to woo potential gas clients and intends to replicate the joint venture model at Mossel Bay to trade gas from offshore fields discovered by TotalEnergies to the Cape market.

“At Mossel Bay we will be looking at potentially two different [joint ventures], one with Total for Brulpadda and then another is for the Block 9 development, but the main entity that will trade gas for the group is PetroSA Gas Trading,” said PetroSA COO Sesakho Magadla.

The ENH gas sales agreement involved importing gas via the 869km Rompco pipeline that links the Pande and Temane fields to SA, before supplying users via Sasol’s pipeline network in the north of the country, she said.

ENH did not respond to requests for comment.

According to a presentation to MPs last month, PetroSA is negotiating two gas transport agreements with Sasol and Rompco, the pipeline company it operates. The pipeline runs from Mozambique to Sasol’s petrochemical complex at Secunda, where it operates the world’s largest coal-to-liquids plant.

“Negotiations are ongoing relating to a gas transportation agreement to provide PetroSA … access to uncommitted capacity within the pipeline network,” Sasol spokesperson Alex Anderson said. Technical studies were under way to determine the feasibility of transporting PetroSA’s gas to areas in the vicinity of the current pipeline network, he added.