Saldanha Bay could get South Africa’s first LNG terminal

According to Reuters, South Africa could build its LNG import facility at the west cost port of Saldanha Bay. Shell, Mitsubishi, Sasol, and several other companies are expected to bid for 3126 MW gas-to-power projects in 1Q16.

Fernel Abrahams, Project Manager for the LNG project at the Western Cape provincial government, said that the proposed project “makes economic sense, it will help improve energy security and all our studies around ocean conditions, demurrage and market growth show it is technically feasible to land gas here.”

Abrahams also mentioned that Angola and Nigeria were among likely source markets for the LNG, and that the project would also supply gas to state-owned power utility Eskom’s Ankerlig 1327 MW diesel-fired open cycle gas turbine (OCGT) power station at Atlantis, South Africa.

“We like the idea," said Eskom's acting Chief Executive Officer, Brian Molefe.

The terminal will allow the authorities to take advantage of favourable global LNG prices, and South Africa plans to add 9600 MW of nuclear power in the next decade and a half, estimated by analysts to cost as much as US$100 billion.

Luke Havemann, a lawyer at ENSafrica, said it was unclear if South Africa would first pipe gas overland from Mozambique or import LNG, rather than exploit its own domestic shale gas resources.

“Ideally we want to know if we have domestic gas resources that we can monetise,” he said.

Richards Bay in KwaZulu-Natal province and Coega in Eastern Cape province have also been suggested as possible sites for an LNG import terminal. The Department of Energy is expected to decide on the terminal and its location in 2016.

Edited from various sources by Angharad Lock

Sources: Rueters, Eyewitness News, Yahoo News.

Read the article online at: https://www.lngindustry.com/liquid-natural-gas/09092015/saldanha-bay-could-get-south-africas-first-lng-terminal-1263/