SA in talks on Qatar gas deal as supply cliff looms

South Africa is in talks to obtain liquefied natural gas from Qatar as the country faces a decline in supplies from neighbouring Mozambique in the coming years.

The authorities are weighing a commercial agreement that will be led by fuel producer Sasol and state power utility Eskom, Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa told lawmakers in Cape Town on Wednesday.

The continent’s most industrialised nation is racing against the clock to source alternative gas supplies as it faces a drop-off when fields in Mozambique operated by Sasol — which ships the fuel by pipeline to South African businesses that support hundreds of thousands of jobs — curb production in 2027.

“We are likely to hit a gas cliff likely in 30 months and 5 percent of the country’s gross domestic product is at great risk as a result,” said Ramokgopa, who was in Qatar at the weekend for talks on the issue.

“We have had bilaterals with Qatar. We are engaging with the gas-intensive users to assure them we are working on the supply.”

Transnet National Ports Authority in September issued a request for proposals for an envisaged liquefied natural gas terminal to receive shipments at the Port of Ngqura in the south of the country.

Earlier this year, the authority appointed a group to develop and operate a terminal at Richards Bay on the east coast that’s expected to come online in the first quarter of 2028. – Bloomberg