From BusinessDayLive. Story by Charlotte Mathews.

Considerable interest is expected from the private sector when South Africa’s Department of Energy issues a request for information in advance of inviting tenders to supply up to 3,126 megawatts of gas-fired power.

To meet the needs of gas power plants in the short term, Norton Rose Fulbright director Gary Rademeyer said the quickest option is to ship liquefied natural gas and to build terminals in Richards Bay and/or Saldanha.

Rademeyer spoke in an interview before the annual Powering Africa conference starting Thursday in Maputo.

In the long term, South Africa’s requirements justify a pipeline from Mozambique’s recently discovered gas deposits. “A pipeline to South Africa will assist Mozambique and likely lead to increased gas utilisation in Mozambique and the increased availability of gas in South Africa will help it achieve its carbon-emission reduction targets by reducing reliance on coal,” Rademeyer said.

In 2013, Sasol completed South Africa’s largest gas-engine power plant at Sasolburg at 140 megawatts… Sasol has built a gas plant at Ressano Garcia in Mozambique in partnership with Mozambique’s electricity utility, EDM, to help meet Mozambique’s energy needs.

Rademeyer said he had no doubt local banks would be interested in financing gas projects.

Standard Bank’s global head of oil and gas, Simon Ashby-Rudd, said at the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston Wednesday there was considerable scope for Mozambique’s deposits to foster gas-based industrial development in the region.

Read more at BusinessDayLive.