Gas pipeline finalised

Synthetic fuels group Sasol is to pipe natural gas from Mozambique to South Africa in a project expected to cost some US $580 million, the Economist Intelliegence Unit reported on Tuesday. A joint-venture company owned by Sasol and the governments of Mozambique and South Africa is to build, own and operate an 895 km natural gas pipeline that would supplement the coal feedstock at Sasol’s Secunda plant in South Africa’s eastern Mpumalanga Province. The Secunda plant produces synthetic fuels and chemical feedstocks. The pipeline will also replace coal as feedstock for the chemical-producing Sasolburg plant, 60 km south of South Africa’s commercial capital, Johannesburg.

According to Sasol’s managing director, Pieter Cox, the agreement would enable the firm “to expand our existing pipeline gas market,” opening the way for distribution of natural gas to both industrial and domestic users in South Africa. The two governments would own up to 50 percent of equity in the pipeline, while black-empowerment groups would be able to buy into the gas- distribution business in South Africa. In October, Sasol signed agreements with the Mozambican government to develop the Pande and Temane gas fields, again piping the gas to South Africa. Development of the projects is due to start by mid-2001, with gas deliveries commencing in 2003.