PSA project ready to supply gas to Temane Power Plant

Maputo, 24 Oct (AIM) – The South African petrochemical giant Sasol announced on Monday that the Production Sharing Agreement (PSA Project) is ready to power the Temane Thermal Power Plant (CTT), in the southern Mozambican province of Inhambane, to generate 450 megawatts of electricity and produce excess gas for export.

According to a statement from Sasol, the PSA Project will reach its peak construction stage in the coming months, following the completion of the Initial Gas Facility (IGF).

The PSA Project also includes a Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) Facility that will produce 30,000 tonnes of LPG a year, meeting 75 per cent of Mozambique’s cooking gas demand, as well as light oil.

“As part of an optimization strategy for the implementation of the Temane Gas Projects, Sasol implemented the Initial Gas Facility (IGF), which was completed in July 2023. This means that even as the PSA Project continues its construction, the gas supply to produce 450 MW of electricity is secured, once the CTT is ready”, reads the SASOL document.

According to Ovidio Rodolfo, the Sasol Mozambique Country Manager, cited in the note, the PSA Project will be a significant addition to the contribution already being made by the Petroleum Production Agreement (PPA), which is contributing to the national energy matrix by supplying gas to five thermal power plants that currently produce approximately 450 MW of electricity over several years.

Additionally, it provides piped gas that is used in households and industries in the Inhambane districts of Govuro, Inhassoro and Vilankulo, as well as in Maputo city, Matola and Marracuene.

“With the commissioning of the CTT planned for 2024, powered by gas from Pande, Inhassorro and Temane (all fields in Inhambane), the amount of energy produced with gas supplied by Sasol will double to 900 MW”, Rodolfo said.

For his part, Avin H Maharaj, the PSA Project Director, says the implementation of the project includes civil, structural, mechanical, electrical, instrumentation and piping works, which are all currently progressing well with the civil works in their final phase.

“With the completion of below ground civil works, we have commenced with the more specialized work of installing structures, piping, gas processing vessels, the electrical and instrumentation cabling on the Integrated Processing Facility and the various wells of the PSA license,” said Maharaj.

The implementation of the PSA Project is technically subdivided into Outside Battery Limits (OBL), which refers to the pipeline network that connects the gas extraction wells to the Initial Gas Processing Facility, and Inside Battery Limits (IBL), which designates the integrated oil, gas and LPG production facility (IPF) for gas extracted from the licensed basin of the PSA.

The implementation of the PSA Project also includes the construction of a resettlement village, with the first stone laid in August 2023. The resettlement village consists of 45 conventional houses for families significantly impacted by the construction of pipelines that will transport gas from the PSA Project’s various wells to the processing plant in Temane.

In addition to housing, the resettlement village includes the upgrading of the Joaquim Marra Primary School, which is currently operating in inadequate conditions, including makeshift classrooms and outdoor spaces. The upgraded school will have 12 conventional classrooms, an administrative block, sanitary facilities, two sports fields, a water supply system, and eight teachers’ residences.

“With an average progress of more than 60% in the works, the PSA Project’s implementation is stimulating employment opportunities in Inhambane province and the country as a whole. Currently, the project employs approximately 2,600 Mozambicans and around 537 foreigners. It is expected that as the more labor-intensive work concludes, this number will start to decrease from the second quarter of 2024”, Sasol says.

As for awarding contracts to Mozambican companies, Sasol has achieved and surpassed its Local Content targets for the project. So far, the total value of awards is 257.6 million US dollars, of which 82% went to Mozambican companies.

(AIM)

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