{"id":757757,"date":"2024-03-06T07:29:36","date_gmt":"2024-03-06T05:29:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=757757"},"modified":"2024-03-06T07:29:43","modified_gmt":"2024-03-06T05:29:43","slug":"south-africas-pending-crisis-mantashe-responds-with-a-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/757757\/south-africas-pending-crisis-mantashe-responds-with-a-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa&#8217;s pending crisis \u2013 Mantashe responds with a plan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) is expected to present a Gas Master Plan to Cabinet this month to address gas supply in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is according to DMRE Minister Gwede Mantashe, who delivered the opening address at the Africa Energy Indaba held in Cape Town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Recent media reports have suggested that South Africa may run out of natural gas supply in 2026, which could have devastating consequences for jobs and manufacturing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-businesstech wp-block-embed-businesstech\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"YfkECquUCB\"><a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/energy\/756833\/south-africa-in-deep-trouble-with-over-60000-jobs-at-stake\/\">South Africa in deep trouble &#8211; with over 60,000 jobs at stake<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);\" title=\"&#8220;South Africa in deep trouble &#8211; with over 60,000 jobs at stake&#8221; &#8212; BusinessTech\" src=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/energy\/756833\/south-africa-in-deep-trouble-with-over-60000-jobs-at-stake\/embed\/#?secret=in5LX7lE1y#?secret=YfkECquUCB\" data-secret=\"YfkECquUCB\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In his written speech, the Minister said the government has \u201cnoted concerns regarding the current and future gas supply in the South African market due to commercial disputes between Sasol and its customers\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOur understanding is that this is in relation to the gas flow decline at source. It is a known fact that natural gas, like other natural resources, is a finite resource and therefore, Sasol reaching a cliff in its gas block in Mozambique is not an anomaly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHaving noted this eventuality, we, together with the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC), have established a task team that includes private sector players to develop a joint strategy that will ensure a seamless transition and business continuity, thus ameliorating potential job losses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The DMRE has also completed all the modelling and drafting work for the country\u2019s Gas Master Plan, which we intend to present to Cabinet this month,\u201d the Minister said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mantashe emphasised the importance for African countries to invest in gas infrastructure also as a means of transitioning from high carbon-emitting energy sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIn its 72nd edition of the Statistical Review of World Energy, the Energy Institute states that fossil fuel consumption as a percentage of primary energy remains steady at 82%, whereas renewables\u2019 share of primary energy consumption reached 7.5% in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIn the same year, the European Union taxonomy declared both nuclear and gas as sustainable and part of transitional activities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;It is, therefore, crucial for African nations to invest in gas infrastructure, including expansion of pipelines.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt is in this context that iGas, a subsidiary of the Central Energy Fund (CEF), acquired an additional 40% ownership of the Republic of Mozambique Pipeline Investments Company (ROMPCO) pipeline, resulting in both South Africa and Mozambique jointly owning 80% of the pipeline,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To solidify the gas supply further, \u00a0Mantashe added that South Africa has entered into a gas sales agreement with the Mozambican State-owned hydrocarbon company, which has the potential to \u201cdeliver up to 200 petajoules of natural gas\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cTo breathe life into this agreement, PetroSA, another subsidiary of Central Energy Fund (CEF), has applied for a gas trading licence with the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;We are convinced that the granting of this licence will ensure continuous gas supply,\u201d the Minister said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the Minister, South Africa has also made \u201csignificant new finds of natural gas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe discovery of gas by TotalEnergies in the Outeniqua Basin and the discovery of maiden gas reserves by Kinetiko Energy in Amersfoort, Mpumalanga, are strategically placed on strengthening South Africa\u2019s energy security and propelling the quest for industrialisation that will bring about growth and development,\u201d\u00a0 he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/757493\/why-government-buildings-are-falling-apart\/\">Why government buildings are falling apart<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy will propose a plan to address South Africa&#8217;s gas supply concerns to the cabinet this month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":731699,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[17438,853],"class_list":["post-757757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-sa-news","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/757757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=757757"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/757757\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":757771,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/757757\/revisions\/757771"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/731699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=757757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=757757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=757757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}