South African petrochemicals giant Sasol (SOL), iGas and Companhia de Mocambicana de Gasuduto, as joint partners in the Republic of Mozambique Pipeline Investment Company (ROMPCO), on Tuesday announced construction of a R1,1bn gas compression station.
The station will facilitate a 20% expansion of natural gas delivery from Mozambique to South Africa by the end of 2009.
The gas compression station will be based at Komatipoort in South Africa and will increase gas delivery capacity from a current 120m gigajoules a year to about 147m gigajoules a year. Construction will commence by mid-2008, Sasol said.
Two gas-turbine driven compressor units and ancillary equipment will be used at Komatipoort to increase gas flow rates in ROMPCO's 865km long transborder pipeline that transports the natural gas from the Pande and Temane gasfield in Mozambique to Sasol's operations at Secunda and Sasolburg in South Africa.
The engineering, procurement and construction management contract has been awarded to Foster Wheeler South Africa (Pty) Ltd.
The pipeline forms part of the $1,2bn Natural Gas venture, inaugurated by former President Joachim Chissano of Mozambique and President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa in June 2004.
It is designed to have a capacity to transport 240m gigajoules of gas a year.
The ROMPCO shareholding partners are the South African government through iGas (25%); the Mozambican government though Companhia de Mocambicana de Gasuduto (25%); and Sasol Gas (50%).
The project will provide short-term employment for about 450 people of whom about 150 will be skilled artisans and 300 local workers. Preference will be given to local and South African suppliers as far as equipment and material sourcing is concerned.
The additional gas will be used as part of the first phase of a planned 20% expansion of Sasol Synfuel's capacity at Secunda over the next eight years, Sasol said.
Three quarters of the eventual additional Synfuels capacity will use natural gas as feedstock with its more benign effects on the environment and the balance will be based on fine coal reserves.
Some of the first phase additional gas is earmarked for the gas turbine driven electricity generators recently ordered by Sasol Synfuels in Secunda. Commissioning of both the pipeline compressor station as well as the gas turbines is expected by late 2009, it concluded. – I-Net Bridge
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