Page 9 - AfrOil Week 06 2020

AfrOil INVESTMENT AfrOil
 Australia’s Tlou Energy and Sekaname, a sub- sidiary of Botswana’s Kalahari Energy, are com- peting for the rights to develop 100 MW of IPP capacity using CBM from their separate CBM projects.
An initial tender failed in 2019, as the gov- ernment ruled that neither bidders qualified, as they were not yet producing CBM. However, Tlou has completed gas production tests at its Lesedi CBM project and has offered to send electricity to the Botswana grid for $0.12 per kWh from a 100-MW IPP project.
Sekaname has gas exploration licences in the Central Kalahari Karoo Basin, and has sim- ilar plans to develop a 100-MW power plant, although it has not made public its per kWh tariff.
Moagi is now confident that a tender will be awarded one of the projects, but did not say which was the winner. “The project is at an advanced stage because what we needed to do is to make sure the power purchase agreements are finalised and we hope that this year it will be finalised,” Moagi said.
He said the government expected the CBM project to come on stream by 2022.
The country has an estimated 190bn cubic metres of economically recoverable CBM.
Coal sector
In the wider coal sector, there are only two operating coal-mining sites in the country. The state-owned Morupule coal-to-power complex produces around 1mn tonnes per year (tpy) and also features the Morupule B power plant.
The Chinese-built Morupule B power plant cangenerate450MW,butithasonlybeenoper- ating below capacity, meaning that the country has had to import up to 200 MW from the South African Power Pool to meet its demand of 600 MW.
Meanwhile, South Africa’s Minergy began operations at the Masama mine in 2019, and aims to produce 100,000 tonnes per month for export to South Africa by 2022.
Renewables
Botswana’s commitment to coal accompanies efforts by the government to exploit its consid- erable solar potential.
In 2019, Botswana and Namibia launched a procurement programme for up to 5,000 MW of solar capacity that would supply the regional southern African market, principally South Africa.
Unlike coal, renewables is enthusiastically supported by Western development finance institutions (DFIs) such as the US government’s Power Africa, World Bank Group, International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the African Development Bank (AfDB).
Energy policy
Botswana’s energy policy aims to make the country self-sufficient, support renewables and foster the exports of coal and CTL-derived syn- thetic fuels to South Africa.
As well as CBM, the country is investing in solar farms and an extension to the Moropule B power plant in a bid to become self-sufficient in electricity. The government plans to support $1.8bn of investment in the power sector to meet up to 500 MW of forecast new demand by 2030.
CTL and CBM technology are part of global efforts by the coal industry to promote clean coal. For Botswana, coal is the key to energy security, a source of export revenues and a new source of energy for crisis-hit South Africa.
The next step for CTL is funding, and Bot- swana seems to be talking to the Chinese, in contrast to the Western support for renewables in southern Africa.
However, it has taken three years to reach this stage, so progress has been slow. With bid- ders now making their intentions public, the Botswana government has had a hard time in drumming up interest.
China certainly has the money to support a $4bn CTL project, and Beijing certainly has enough experience in Africa to leverage its financial and political influence in Botswana.. ™
PERFORMANCE
Libya sees oil production decline further, takes refinery off line
LIBYA
CONDITIONS in the Libyan oil sector have continued to deteriorate over the last week, as forces loyal to Khalifa Haftar maintain their blockade of the country’s crude export facilities.
Late last week, Libya’s National Oil Corp. (NOC) reported that oil production levels had sunk below the threshold of 200,000 barrels per day. As of February 7, it said, output was
averaging 181,576 bpd.
This represents a significant drop from the
900,000-plus bpd figures reported prior to Jan- uary 18, when Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) cut off NOC’s access to important coastal terminals and associated infrastructure. It is also more than 1mn bpd below Libya’s 2019 peak of 1.2-1.3mn bpd.
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