South African petrochemical company Sasol, which operates in southern Mozambique, specifically in Inhambane province, has revealed that construction of the gas production plant in the Temane district will be completed in September.
The guarantee was given by Sasol’s Director of Corporate Relations, Mateus Mosse, who indicated that the works are now around 80 per cent complete, pointing out that the infrastructure is being built as part of the implementation of the Production Sharing Agreement (PSA), initialled between the government and the petrochemical company.
“Under this initiative it is planned to produce 30,000 tonnes of cooking gas a year to meet 75% of domestic demand,” he explained.
According to Mosse, given the new forecasts, gas production could begin between November and December this year, pointing out that the resource will supply the Temane Thermal Power Station (CTT) and the light oil refinery to obtain cooking gas (LPG).
“Based on the gas received, CTT should generate 450 MW of energy,” he emphasised.
In October last year, the head of the PSA, Avin Maharaj, explained that the implementation of the initiative includes civil, structural, mechanical, electrical, instrumentation and pipework, all of which is on schedule and the civil part is in its final stages.
“When the civil works are completed, we will begin the more specialised work of installing metal structures such as piping and tanks for processing gas from the various boreholes in the PSA licence,” he said.
Maharaj also described that the feasibility of implementing the PSA includes the construction of a resettlement village, the foundation stone of which was laid in August 2023. “The resettlement consists of 45 conventional houses for families totally impacted by the construction of the gas transport viaducts.”
“In addition to the housing, the resettlement village includes the refurbishment of the Joaquim Marra Primary School, currently operating in precarious classrooms and under trees, which will now have 12 conventional classrooms, an administrative block, toilets, two sports fields, a water supply system and eight teachers’ houses,” he said.
The PSA project is boosting the market for job opportunities in Inhambane province in particular and in the country in general. It currently has around 2,600 Mozambican workers and 537 foreigners. It is hoped that, with the conclusion of the more labour-intensive works, this number will begin to reduce from the second quarter of 2024.
