Tosaco Energy, part of the group that owns 25% of Total SA, has acquired three technical co-operation permits to explore for natural gas in Mpumalanga with an eye on SA’s future demand for gas for power. Although public attention has focused on the possibility of fracking for shale gas in the Karoo, SA has other forms of onshore gas, which can be extracted without fracking. JSE-listed Renergen extracts natural gas near Virginia in the Free State, which is used in buses. Tosaco Energy had been awarded a 2,900km² permit area near towns including Grootvlei, Amersfoort and Balfour, it said, where there were already natural gas pipelines and power stations that could be converted from coal to gas. This is Tosaco’s first move into the energy sector. CEO Bradley Cerff said it would also look at upstream and midstream opportunities, energy infrastructure and tank storage. Tosaco expects that demand for gas in SA will replace coal as a source of energy and cut the country’s carbon emissions....
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