Durban conference to address South Africa’s potential to become international gas hub

By ogrepublic On Jul 24, 2017

A conference taking place in Durban from 9-11 October is set to explore South Africa’s aspirations to build an energy hub for gas cooperation with international partners along the value chain. The International Gas Cooperation Summit (IGCS) evolves from the ‘South Africa: Gas Options’ meetings held in Cape Town in 2015 & 2016.

This meeting will bring together principal government and public sector, gas developers, institutional investors and technology providers to explore how natural gas can play a greater role in South Africa’s energy mix and support the industrial and economic development goals of the country.

EnergyNet’s Anna Gorzkowska commented, “When we launched IGCS at the South Africa: Gas Options meeting last year in Cape Town, we knew that the landscape was changing and the discussion going forward would be broader to incorporate the DTI’s gas utilisation programme. We’re therefore delighted to have got the timing of this meeting right – there is so much interest not only in the gas for power programme, but the massive infrastructure and energy projects happening as a result of those anchor discussions.

The conversation in October is also not squarely about South Africa, but its relationship with international partners and Southern Africa’s ability to develop gas based projects to electrify and empower the region. Similarities must be drawn with the UAE 20 years ago and how they leveraged gas as the foundation of their now unimaginably rich economies. We’re looking forward to taking this discussion to the next level with our partners.”

The next opportunity

IGCS will showcase gas procurement and utilisation projects and strategies, bringing together decision makers who can lay the cornerstone of the region’s success and enable South Africa to become an energy hub to support industrial development across the region. The agenda will focus on the global gas outlook for Southern Africa, case studies on modelling a gas economy, South Africa’s gas market in the context of the SADC region, how to accelerate gas infrastructure and the cost of diving into downstream.