Page 11 - AfrElec Week 09 2021

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Gasmeth set to begin CNG

production in Rwanda by end-2022

RWANDA GASMETH, a company founded to extract working with Rwandan authorities to sign up
methane from Lake Kivu in Rwanda, has said it customers on the domestic market.
expects to begin turning out CNG by the end of Tierney said he expected that “approximately
next year. half” of Gasmeth’s future production would be
According to Stephen Tierney, Gasmeth’s used as cooking fuel. He acknowledged that
CEO, the company is making progress on this Rwandan authorities had been encouraging local
front despite delays related to the coronavirus consumers to treat CNG as cooking fuel – and
(COVID-19) pandemic. As a result, he told the therefore as a substitute for LPG, which is itself
New Times last week, it expects to launch CNG an alternative to charcoal and firewood.
production by late 2022. “The entire project will Officials in Kigali believe that Gasmeth’s
be live by then,” he stated. CNG could allow 300,000-400,000 households
Gasmeth has already completed work on an to phase out the use of charcoal and firewood.
environmental and social impact assessment However, they have also highlighted other pos-
(ESIA), which outlines plans to uphold the strict sibilities, such as using CNG as a substitute for
standards necessary to secure financing for the gasoline or diesel fuel or burning it in generators
$400mn project from international lenders, for industrial use.
Tierney added. “As you can appreciate, a pri- This is in line with the concession agreement
vately funded project of this scale requires a great that Gasmeth signed with the Rwandan govern-
deal of support from both local and international ment in 2019. That agreement gave the company
equity providers/lenders,” he said. “We are fortu- the right to extract up to 40mn cubic feet (1.1mn
nate to have received great support for this strate- cubic metres) per day of methane from Lake
gically important project and expect to close the Kivu and to build onshore gas-processing and
final capital raise by mid-year.” compression facilities to produce CNG. It envi-
In the meantime, he noted, the company is sioned production beginning in 2021.™

GAS-FIRED GENERATION

Sasol reaches FID for Pande-Temane project

SOUTH AFRICA SOUTH Africa’s Sasol is looking to push forward by the end of 2024, when production is slated to
with the development of Pande and Temane, begin.
two onshore natural gas fields in neighbouring The FID demonstrates the company’s ongo-
Mozambique. ing interest in Mozambique, the statement said.
The company said in a statement late last “Sasol remains committed to the development
month that it had made a final investment deci- of the country, and we believe that with PSA
sion (FID) on the project, which is expected to entering into [the] development and production
carry a price tag of $760mn. This move will allow phase, we will be able to bring additional value
Sasol to proceed with work at Pande and Temane to what we have already been doing through the
under the production-sharing agreement (PSA) petroleum production agreement (PPA) licence
that was approved last September. [for Pande and Temane], which [has been] con-
Under the PSA, future production from the tributing to the economy since 2004.”
two fields is slated for delivery to several desti- For his part, Sasol’s president and CEO Fleet-
nations. Some of the gas will go to a new plant wood Grobler said that the project would benefit
that will turn out LPG for sale on local markets, his company. “The PSA development underpins
while some will be used to fuel Central Térmica Sasol’s gas transformation strategy by securing
de Temane (CTT), a 450-MW thermal power additional gas supply from southern Mozam-
plant (TPP) that will be built in Mozambique. bique into Sasol’s gas value chain starting [in]
The remaining volumes will be exported to 2024 and serves as a cornerstone in addressing
South Africa via overland pipeline. Sasol’s sustainability agenda.”
Sasol said it intended to begin work at Pande The Panda and Temane fields are believed
and Temane in July of this year, subject to the to hold as much as 1.2 trillion cubic feet of gas
finalisation of plans for the construction of CTT. (32.98bn cubic metres), along with around
It also noted that the gas project was expected 10mn barrels of crude oil. Gas production is due
to create more than 3,000 jobs for Mozambicans to begin in 2024.™

Week 09 04•March•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P11