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AfrElec GAS-FIRED GENERATION AfrElec

Renergen says its LNG auctions

drew more interest than expected

SOUTH AFRICA RENERGEN said last week that its upcom- to buy for future production streams of LNG and
ing LNG auctions, the first of their kind in helium from Renergen’s LNG plant. The facility
South Africa, had attracted more interest than is currently under construction and due to begin
anticipated. commercial operations in 2021.
Stefano Marani, the company’s CEO, told the The South African company is building its
press last week that Renergen had not expected LNG plant in two stages. In the first stage, it will
so many companies to register for the auctions. connect its natural gas wells near Welkom, Vir-
“We expected some interest but certainly not the ginia and Theunissen in Free State to a new pipe-
level received, with significantly more companies line and also build the gas liquefaction plant and
involved in the auction process than we had fore- a helium plant.
casted,” he said. The latter facility will process helium from
This high level of interest shows that there is Renergen’s fields, which contain unusually high
room on the domestic market for new types of volumes of the noble gas. Sproule, an interna-
fuel, he added. “Many companies in South Africa tional energy consulting firm, estimates that
have their own procurement departments deal- these sites may contain as much as 9.74bn cubic
ing in energy, and an auction such as this would metres of helium, or more than the total proven
never feature in their operational processes. reserves of North America.
However, we were pleasantly surprised to be Once the gas liquefaction plant comes online,
proved wrong,” he commented. the company will halt production of CNG and
Marani did not name any of the interested switch to LNG. It has already arranged to work
parties. He was speaking shortly after Renergen with a unit of France’s Total to sell its LNG as a
closed registrations for the auction on August 28. fuel for long-haul trucking. Total will use its fill-
The next step for registered bidders is to sign ing stations along the Johannesburg-Durban
non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), the CEO section of the N3 highway to distribute LNG
said. After meeting this requirement, partici- from the first phase of Renergen’s plant.
pants will have until the end of October to final- The second stage of the LNG plant will then
ise and submit their bids, he stated. begin production in 2023. Part of the produc-
“We now look forward to completing the tion from the second stage will be distributed
information-sharing process and assessing all by Total’s retail outlets along all of South Africa’s
bids received,” Marani said. major highways, and the remaining volumes will
The winners of the auctions will have the right be sold to other buyers.™

DRC gives Perenco a green light for

associated gas-to-power project

DRC THE government of the Democratic Republic of of associated gas, a practice that contributes to
Congo (DRC) has authorised the Anglo-French carbon emissions. Additionally, more gas may
company Perenco to move forward with a gas- become available if the Anglo-French firm is
to-power project. able to bring production back up to 70,000-
According to press reports, the DRC’s coun- 90,000 bpd, the level that was prevailing before
cil of ministers recently approved Perenco’s plan the advent of the coronavirus (COVID-19)
for using associated gas as fuel for electricity pandemic.
production. The plan calls for the company to The DRC’s council of ministers has shown
make associated gas extracted during the devel- strong interest in this project, which is in line
opment of oilfields available to thermal power with the government’s efforts to transform
plants (TPPs). wasted resources into a source of revenue. The
The initial volumes of gas may be limited, as council also hopes Perenco’s plan will support its
Perenco is only producing about 25,000 barrels campaign to ensure universal access to electric-
per day (bpd) in the DRC at present. Never- ity and to open the domestic power-generating
theless, it will help reduce the country’s flaring sector up to privately owned companies, in line

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 36 10•September•2020