South Africa is looking to import liquefied natural gas from Qatar in the coming period, as electricity company Eskom Holdings and Sasol work together to secure the fuel from new sources before its main supplies decline in 2027.
“Qatar is at the top of the list of candidates” to sell LNG to Eskom and chemicals and fuels manufacturer Sasol, given its rich gas reserves, Power and Energy Minister Kgosintsho Ramokgopa told a news briefing in Johannesburg today.
He added that Qatar, which plans to increase its LNG shipments by more than 80% by 2030, has expressed interest to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to cooperate in this regard, according to Bloomberg.
The continent’s most industrialized nation is racing against time to find alternatives to gas, facing a decline in production by 2027 from fields in Mozambique operated by Sasol, which pipes the fuel to companies in South Africa, supporting hundreds of thousands of jobs.