December 4, 2015 [Reuters] - South Africa is working toward launching a tender for the country's first floating gas import terminal in the first half of 2016, Karen Breytenbach, head of the Department of Energy's IPP office said on Thursday.
Breytenbach said the government hoped to launch a request for pre-qualifications in the first quarter of next year for a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU), followed by a request for proposals in the second quarter before making an award by the end of 2016.
“The decision has been taken to do gas to power and because we don’t have indigenous gas we are relying on LNG,” she said.
Importing LNG is among the options Africa’s most developed economy is considering to diversify its energy sources away from coal and ease power shortfalls that have curbed growth.
Breytenbach said the aim was to begin importing LNG by 2018-19.
