DOHA: As South Africa plans to add more natural gas to its energy supply mix, the country is eyeing Qatar as a potential partner to realise its long-term vision.
Speaking on the sidelines of an event yesterday, Faizel Moosa (pictured), Ambassador of South Africa to Qatar, told The Peninsula that South Africa is on a mission to increase the share of gas in its energy mix from the current 3 percent to 23 percent. South Africa wants to improve the trade relations with Qatar. Qatar can be a most potential investor in South Africa, particularly in the oil and gas sector.
“Currently a major share of South Africa’s natural gas supply is transported by pipeline from Mozambique. But in the process of increasing our gas consumption by 23 percent, we would definitely face supply challenges. Toa address this, we are planning to develop a receiving gas terminal. We believe Qatar can play a strategic role in developing this critical infrastructure”, he said.
South Africa believes that Qatar can support the country in a big way to roll out its gas infrastructure, both in terms of investment and sharing expertise. Currently, Qatar doesn’t have any major investment in South Africa.
In the country’s commodity space, Qatar has opportunities to invest billions of dollars. “So we are trying getting Qatar to understand the importance of investing in South Africa, where they can get very attractive returns on their investments. We also want to further boost the existing partnership between QP and South Africa’s Sasol.” The South African ambassador said his country’s energy Minister is expected to visit Qatar in the coming months to hold high-level discussions with Qatari entities, ahead of inviting a high-profile government officials and potential Qatari investors and business leaders to South Africa.
Mining sector is the biggest contributor to South Africa’s national GDP. The country exports all its commodities in raw form and it sees a lot of job creations and value additions if it can process them locally and export as finished goods.”We are hoping that we can attract Qatari investors to come and get involved in joint ventures in some of our local companies to set up value add industries”.
“We offer lot of incentives to foreign investors. We have already developed 10 special economic zones, which offer tax breaks to foreign investors. Government will offer land and other infrastructure to set up your facility. We are in the process of developing another five special economic zones.”
Meanwhile, a recent US Energy Information Administration (EIA) report noted South Africa, in an effort to reduce CO2 emission rate, is planning to diversify its energy portfolio, replacing coal with lower CO2-emitting fuels such as natural gas and renewable sources. The country’s Intended National Determined Contribution, submitted as part of the Paris Agreement, plans for CO2 emissions to peak by 2025, remain flat for a decade, and begin to decline around 2035. Coal accounted for about 70 percent of the country’s primary energy consumption in 2016.
