(Ecofin Agency) - Sasol Ltd. aims to boost the capacity of its processing facility in Temane, Mozambique to meet the growing regional demand for the country’s gas.

According to the senior vice president of Sasol’s exploration and production unit, John Sichinga, Sasol will increase the facility’s capacity by about 8% to 197 million gigajoules by 2017.“There’s no shortage of demand. There’s a power pool and all the countries of the region are short of power,” he said.

Discovered by Gulf Oil over 50 years ago, the Pande and Temane gas fields, were procured by Sasol in 2003. After processing, the gas is transported via an 865-kilometer pipeline to the company’s plant in Secunda, South Africa. Sasol has reduced its expenses after the decline in the global prices of crude reduced income from its synfuels and chemicals divisions. The company is currently concentrating its investments on Mozambique.

A consortium spearheaded by Eni SpA, which includes Sasol and Statoil ASA, was granted one of the six exploration and production contracts offered by Mozambique to explore for oil and gas in an offshore block in 2015. Sasol was also awarded an onshore block at Pande Temane in the fifth licencing round.

“We’ve been notified of the award and were due to engage with the authorities on an exploration, production concession contract earlier this year. It’s taken a bit longer. I’m told it will be ready soon,” Sichinga told Bloomberg.

Anita Fatunji