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Gas Pipeline From Mozambique to S. Africa Starts Construction in 2002
The construction of a 500-kilometer gas pipeline from Pande in the southern Mozambican province of Inhambane to Secunda in South Africa is to start in early 2002.
Arsenio Mabote, national director for coal and hydrocarbons in the Mozambican Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy, told reporters on Thursday that the seismic prospection along the pipeline route is being undertaken by a Chinese company.
It is hoped that the gas from the Inhambane fields will reach South Africa in 2003 or 2004.
Mabote said that the parties involved in the gas project are currently winding down talks aimed at reaching agreements on a technical development plan which includes an environmental impact study.
Also under discussion are the detailed agreements for the sale and transport of the gas between the South African company SASOL which holds the rights to the Inhambane fields, and its partners.
Apart from use of the gas in SASOL's own plants in Secunda, some will be sold for use in Maputo, notably by the Maputo Iron and Steel Project, a projected factory owned by the U.S. company Enron which will produce 2 million tons of steel slabs a year.
The South African government has proposed a partnership with SASOL and Mozambique in order to establish a joint-company that will operate as the owner of the pipeline.
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