From gas to power with Sasol in Mozambique

Mozambique

Ovidio Rodolfo, Sasol’s vice-president and country managing director in Mozambique, talks to The Energy Year about the importance of the Pande and Temane gasfields for Mozambique’s electricity production and the company’s project to launch the first LPG plant dedicated to the domestic market. Sasol is a global chemicals and energy company.

Sasol found gas in the Bonito-1 exploration well in 2023. What is the significance of this discovery for the company and for Mozambique?
Bonito-1 is a significant discovery. We have submitted our commitment to the Mozambican regulator, INP, to drill at least another two appraisal wells by the end of 2025. Our current operating licence is moving towards a decline in production and we plan to do as much exploration as possible in southern Mozambique to maximise the utilisation of the infrastructure already in place and to support the transition to net zero by 2050, as current reserves are not sufficient to cover Mozambique for that period.

The ongoing Central Térmica de Temane (CTT) project will generate electricity with gas from fields operated by Sasol. What scope do you see for further development?
Electricity is a key driver for development, which is why universal access to electricity by 2030 is a government goal. When we started operating in 2004, five of the existing power stations were not operating and the Temane gasfields were not contributing to electricity production. Today, close to 450 MW are being generated with gas from Pande and Temane, and our new licence, which will move into production by the end of 2024, will be able to supply gas to generate an additional 450 MW from the CTT.
It is a huge milestone and you can see the multiplier effect on the economy. The growth of southern Mozambique since 2010, including the building that we’re currently sitting in, wouldn’t have been possible without the electricity produced from Pande and Temane gas.

How important is Mozambique for Sasol’s international portfolio and do you see the country becoming a regional energy exporter?
Our role is to enable that to happen. Stakeholders such as EDM and Globeleq will be the drivers, but Sasol will play an enabling role to ensure that resources are being exploited and monetised in-country as much as possible.
Besides supplying gas for power generation stations, we are constructing an LPG plant in Temane that will be the first in the country dedicated to the domestic market. It will produce close to 30,000 tpy of LPG that can be used as cooking gas, replacing almost 70% of current imports and enabling the massification of LPG utilisation in the country.
Sasol is in Mozambique for the long term, and while our current focus is to make the most of our reserves in the south, the long-term conversation revolves around how Sasol can best partner with Mozambique to monetise the gas reserves in the Rovuma Basin, both domestically and regionally, be it through LNG production, transportation or other means.

What steps does Sasol take to promote local participation in the energy sector?
For projects to run smoothly, they need to be accepted by all stakeholders, especially the hosting communities. They need to be given the opportunity to participate as suppliers or service providers, not necessarily in the project itself but certainly in connected activities. In the past three years, we have been supporting local companies in Inhambane province with training, upskilling and certification assistance.
We are now closing the fourth edition of the training programme, which aims to empower local companies to become more competitive and better positioned to win opportunities to supply goods and services in any sector in the country, including mineral resources and energy. It is a growing commitment. When we started, our spending with local companies was less than USD 500,000 per year, and this year we topped USD 10 million.

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