OVERVIEW
Oil and gas Natural gas projects are powering ahead.
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he Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), an agency of the US government, will lend Renergen $40-million (more than R600-million) over 12 years to build a gas plant in the Free State. Renergen, which is listed on the JSE and has signed an offtake agreement with Linde to take helium which will be extracted from the area around Virginia (which has proven reserves of 25-billion cubic feet). Another agreement was signed with Megabus (a subsidiary of Unitrans), to take “compressed natural gas”, which is cheaper than liquid nitrogen gas (LNG). In 2018, South African Breweries signed up to take LNG for its truck fleet. Renergen’s natural gas subsidiary, Tetra4, has secured a R218-million loan from the Industrial Development Corporation to build a 107km pipeline network from Virginia. The chemical complex at Sasolburg is the economic driver of the oil and gas sector for the province. One of the Sasol companies at Sasolburg, Sasol New Energy, is moving the group away from reliance on fossil fuels. The resulting savings will improve Sasol’s profit margins, reduce carbon dioxide emissions and take
ONLINE RESOURCES Petroleum Agency SA: www.petroleumagencysa.com South African Oil and Gas Alliance: www.saoga.org.za South African Petroleum Industry Association: www.sapia.co.za
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SECTOR INSIGHT A US government agency has lent more than R600-million for a gas plant. pressure of the national electricity grid. The regulator and promoter of oil and gas exploration in South Africa, Petroleum Agency South Africa, has awarded coalbed-methane-gas exploration rights in KwaZulu-Natal and natural-gas exploration permits in the Free State. Early surveys suggest that the Free State has 23-billion cubic feet of gas underground. If this is confirmed, then four new power stations could be built in the province. Tests have begun in the Karoo in search of shale gas. The Natref fuel refinery is one of only four in South Africa, and the country’s only inland refinery. The refinery is a joint venture between Sasol Oil (63.6%) and Total SA (36.3%). It is a technologically advanced facility, which refines heavy crude oil into petrol, diesel, commercial propane, jet fuel and bitumen. FREE STATE BUSINESS 2020
