Energy Minister Jeff Radebe has promised greater alignment between South Africa’s energy plans, including the new Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) for electricity, and a regional gas masterplan that is currently under development within the 16-country Southern African Development Community (SADC) bloc.

In an interview with Engineering News on the sidelines of a recent SADC Ministerial Workshop on regional gas infrastructure and market development, in Johannesburg, Radebe said it was crucial for South Africa’s national plans to be reflected in the regional plan.

The expanded integration of natural gas into Southern Africa’s energy mix, as well as its industrial and petrochemicals sectors, was strongly endorsed at the thirty-seventh summit of the SADC heads of State and government, which took place in South Africa in August last year. By the next summit, which is scheduled for Windhoek, Namibia, in August, a report must be produced outlining the SADC’s approach to the development of regional gas resources.

SADC deputy executive secretary Dr Thembinkosi Mhlongo reported, meanwhile, that technical committees had already met to define the terms of reference for an inter-State gas committee, which would oversee the development of the masterplan.

Radebe anticipated a phased integration of the plans, given that South Africa’s updated IRP was due for release imminently and with work well advanced on the country’s gas and liquid fuels masterplans.

The Minister would present the draft IRP to Cabinet in the “next week or so”, after which it would be released for public comment. He reiterated that the final IRP, which would guide future power generation investments, would be finalised by mid-August.

The plan would include gas-to-power projects, which Radebe said could complement South Africa’s variable renewable-energy plants. The country’s much-anticipated gas-to-power procurement programme would proceed once Cabinet had approved both the IRP and the gas masterplan. The IRP would be approved first, but Radebe said the gas masterplan would follow “shortly thereafter”.

In the medium term, South Africa would also include cross-border gas and gas-to-power in its various energy plans, with bilateral talks already under way on the prospects for a gas pipeline from the gas-rich Rovuma basin, in northern Mozambique, to South Africa.

However, Radebe stressed that gas-to-power should be but one component of the regional gas masterplan, which would also outline a vision for the use of natural gas in transport, and industrial and domestic heating, as well as in the production of petrochemicals and fertilisers.

“This enormous opportunity can only be realised if the region develops the requisite gas processing, transport and distribution infrastructure to supply the regional market so that the SADC will not only limit itself to being a gas exporter.”

Nepad Business Foundation project manager for gas John Rocha told delegates, among whom were Ministers and Deputy Ministers from Botswana, eSwatini, Lesotho, Mozambique and Namibia, that policy coordination and alignment would be critical to unlocking the opportunities associated with Africa’s natural gas resources, which were estimated at more than 600 tcf.

It would also be critical for projects to be facilitated downstream of the exploration and production sector, which had become increasingly vibrant. In fact, it was expected that, between 2018 and 2025, up to $413-billion would be invested in 93 oil and gas projects.

Quoting from Frost & Sullivan research, Rocha argued that $212-billion in investment would be required into pipelines, gas plants and gas-to-power projects up to 2025 in order for gas to become a more integral part of sub-Saharan Africa’s energy mix.

On the sidelines of the meeting, Radebe initiated bilateral discussions with Mozambique regarding the further development of the cross-border gas infrastructure linking South Africa’s energy and chemicals sectors to Mozambique’s vast natural gas resources.

Well over 100-trillion cubic feet (tcf) of natural gas has been discovered in Mozambique and there is an expectation that, with further exploration and development, the resource could be expanded in future.

Radebe said he intended travelling to Mozambique “shortly” to further advance bilateral discussions with his counterpart, Ernesto Max Tonela.

He indicated that his initial discussions with Deputy Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Augusto de Sousa Fernando had focused on taking the partnership that had already existed between the two countries through the Rompco pipeline to “the next level”.

Rompco is a joint venture between JSE-listed energy and chemicals group Sasol, Companhia Mocambiçana de Gasoduto and the State-owned South African Gas Development Company, or iGas. The 865 km Rompco pipeline carries gas produced at the Pande and Temane fields, in southern Mozambique, to South Africa, where Sasol uses most of the gas to produce electricity, fuel and chemicals. It also sells some of the gas to about 320 industrial customers in South Africa.

However, far larger discoveries of gas have been made in the Rovuma basin, where energy groups Eni and Anadarko are beginning to develop liquefied natural gas processing facilities, with the intention of selling gas to customers mostly in Asia. Some commentators believe there is also potential to build a pipeline from the area to South Africa, but the proposal remains at the concept stage.

Radebe stressed that South Africa would be adopting a regional perspective to the gas opportunities and revealed that he had also held discussions with his Namibian counterpart on ways to unlock that country’s Kudu gas reserves.

In a statement issued following a workshop on how to develop a regional gas market and infrastructure, the SADC Energy Ministers endorsed a proposal to strengthen energy cooperation and enhance the contribution of gas in the regional energy mix.

The Minister also endorsed the development of a Regional Gas Masterplan, as well as the harmonisation of the policy and regulatory framework to promote gas trading and infrastructure development.

The SADC’s Mhlongo said that a draft masterplan should be produced within the next 12 months and stressed that it would be the product of consultation not only with member States but also with the private sector.

Radebe reported that there had been enthusiastic support for expanding the role of gas in the region by representatives from energy companies, commercial banks and development finance institutions, who participated in the workshop.

Gas also emerged as a central theme of the broader meeting of Energy and Water Ministers, held in preparation for the thirty-eighth summit of the SADC heads of State and government, scheduled for Windhoek, Namibia, in August.

The integral relationship between energy and water security was highlighted by the Ministers, along with the need to eradicate energy poverty and improve access to clean and safe water.