Looming industrial gas crisis, government called upon to make haste

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‘These industries employ 70,000 people, contribute significantly to the manufacturing sector to the extent of about R500bn a year and there are no feasible or discernible alternatives for energy to run these plants at this particular point in time,’ says Jaco Human of the Industrial Gas Users Association of Southern Africa.

You can also listen to this podcast on iono.fm here. ADVERTISEMENT CONTINUE READING BELOW JEREMY MAGGS: You might recall that Sasol, South Africa’s monopoly supplier of large-scale natural gas, announced in August 2023 that the supply of gas to industrial users would be suspended by June 2026. The unilateral decision, says our first guest on the programme, to cut off the gas supply poses an existential threat to South Africa’s manufacturing base.

So Sasol is pulling back on the methane rich gas and of course the natural gas, which is subjected to this declining resource. So we are exposed as an industry and the economy in South Africa. JEREMY MAGGS: So inevitably we are going to become reliant on imports, I imagine, and that becomes very onerous and expensive.

The alternative, of course, of not having LNG is much worse, as I’ve just indicated. But the infrastructure piece is the missing link, and that is the focus to enable that right now.JACO HUMAN: Of course, there is a cost factor associated to that. So from a time perspective, we have about four months or so in order to commit to the developers. ADVERTISEMENT CONTINUE READING BELOW The project we are focusing on is the LNG import terminal at the in Mozambique.

JEREMY MAGGS: Has there been any word from government and particularly on how it might plan in mitigating the risks that you’ve outlined?

 

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