• Sasol issued a precautionary force majeure notice over potential gas supply disruptions from Mozambique.
• Flooding damaged roads in Mozambique and disrupted logistics linked to gas production, including condensate transport.
• Gas flows continue without interruption, and customers received no request to curb consumption.

Sasol warned its customers on Wednesday, January 28, of a potential risk to natural gas supplies from Mozambique. Johannesburg-based gas distributor Egoli Gas conveyed the alert to customers in a letter issued the same day.

In the notice, Egoli Gas said Sasol had sent a formal notification citing operational challenges linked to extreme weather conditions in Mozambique. Sasol said flooding damaged several roads and complicated the transport of critical logistics, including condensates associated with gas production.

This warning came as heavy rainfall and flooding affected several regions of Mozambique in recent weeks. Authorities and humanitarian agencies said damaged road infrastructure rendered several transport corridors impassable, particularly in the southern and central parts of the country.

Egoli Gas said the notification formed part of a precautionary force majeure declaration designed to alert customers in advance to possible operational disruptions.

At this stage, no supply interruption has occurred. Egoli Gas said gas deliveries continue as normal and customers received no request to adjust consumption levels. Sasol said its gas operations remain active despite weather-related logistical constraints and said mitigation measures are in place to ensure service continuity.

Sasol’s gas operations in Mozambique rely on the onshore Pande and Temane gas fields, which entered production in the early 2000s. Mozambique’s hydrocarbons regulator said commercial gas production began in 2004 under a cross-border project designed to supply South Africa.

Operators process the extracted gas at the Temane Central Processing Facility before exporting it to South Africa via an approximately 865-kilometer pipeline linking southern Mozambique to the Secunda industrial complex. Sasol said this corridor forms the backbone of its cross-border gas flows.

In the past, Sasol’s operations have faced external constraints, including security and logistical challenges. In some cases, these events prompted operational risk notices without necessarily disrupting deliveries. Mozambican media, citing former president Filipe Nyusi in 2024, said Sasol exported about 2.6 billion gigajoules of natural gas from the Pande and Temane fields to South Africa between 2004 and 2024.

This article was initially published in French by Abdel-Latif Boureima

Adapted in English by Ange J.A de BERRY QUENUM