Mozambique to Expand Capacity of Gas Pipeline To South Africa

The Republic of Mozambique Pipeline Investments Company (ROMPCO) will spend $210 million in expanding the capacity of an existing pipeline to South Africa.

ROMPCO will expand the capacity of the existing 865 km of gas pipeline from the Central Processing Facility (CPF) at Temane in Mozambique to Secunda in South Africa, Sasol said in a statement Monday.

Named Loop Line 2 (LL2), the project is planned to come into operation early in 2017, it will initially transport gas to South Africa, but will be able to serve additional markets in Mozambique and South Africa, as gas becomes available.

The project involves the installation of a pipeline parallel to the existing pipeline, from scraper station 1 (STS1), which is about 128 km from the CPF, over a length of 127 km where it connects back into the main pipeline at scraper station 2.

Loop Line 1, which runs from CPF up to STS1, was commissioned in December 2014.

ROMPCO is a joint venture between Sasol, Companhia Mocambiçana de Gasoduto S.A. and South African Gas Development Company (SOC) Limited (iGas). It owns the pipeline through which the gas purchased from Mozambique is transported to South Africa and to Ressano Garcia in Mozambique.