Kudu power eyes regional market

ELECTRICITY generated through the Kudu gas field will be exported to Botswana, South Africa, Zambia and Angola, Gazprom chief Boris Ivanov has said.

Talking about Gazprom’s plan with Namcor to buy part of Tullow Oil’s stake in Kudu, Ivanov told the company corporate magazine that Gazprom is in talks with Namibian and South African authorities about plans to build an 800 megawatts power plant. Of this, Namibia plans to use 500 megawatts.Gazprom, the world’s largest natural gas producer, and Namibia’s state-owned oil company, Namcor, plan to set up a joint venture that will hold 54 per cent in the gas field, Ivanov, head of the Moscow-based company’s international exploration and production unit, said. Tullow will hold 31 per cent and Itochu Corp the remaining 15 percent, he said.Kudu’s ‘reserves may increase several times over with additional exploration,’ Ivanov said. He estimated the field holds 50 billion cubic meters of gas (1,8 trillion cubic feet).Tullow, the UK explorer with the most drilling licenses in Africa, had examined plans to sell Gazprom, Russia’s state-owned gas monopoly, part of its 70 per cent interest in the Kudu gas field to advance the project, Tullow chief operating officer Paul McDade said in March.Siseho Simasiku, chief executive officer of Namibia’s Electricity Control Board (ECB), said earlier this week that Government wants Gazprom and Tullow to fast-track the development of the power station.Namibia would like a decision on the new plant to be taken ‘yesterday’, Simasiku said in an interview with Bloomberg.Simasiku, who is also the chairman of Namcor, said Namibia currently had ‘no money’ to contribute towards the project and that the country was ‘looking to be carried’.If the new gas-fired plant goes ahead it will probably be built near the southern coastal town of Oranjemund and cost about US$700 million, or N$4,9 billion, while about US$$500 million, nearly N$3,5 billion, more will be needed for related infrastructure, Simasiku said. – Own report and Bloomberg

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