Total finds - yet another - 'giant' gas reserve in South Africa
RELATED: South Africa just became the world’s hottest destination for oil exploration
Last year, Total announced that the “world-class” Brulpadda well could supply South Africa with energy equivalent to a billion barrels of oil.
Now, yet another, even larger Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) reserve has been found, called Luiperd.
Both finds have major implications for energy-importing, electricity-starved South Africa.

For one, Mossgas, which will run out of gas within a few short years, can be sustainably resupplied.
The country can halt imports of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and stop the expansion of pipelines from Mozambique, its increasingly unstable neighbour.
In an age of spiralling electricity costs, relying on gas for a larger part of our energy mix have untold promise.
Refilwe Moloto asked Stephen Larkin, the CEO of Africa New Energies, why this is such a big deal.
This couldn’t have come at a better time for South Africa’s economy… Luiperd is bigger than Brulpadda… it’s a world-class, giant find…
Stephen Larkin, CEO - Africa New Energies
Mossgas was a pioneering, engineering marvel! It was the first gas-to-liquid plant ever built in the world… Unfortunately, they didn’t have enough natural gas at the time to supply it. They build it on a prayer. This was the apartheid government’s thinking; they were desperate about energy security in the 1980s… When it came online in the 1990s… they said that, if they didn’t find natural gas, they would have to close it in 2021.
Stephen Larkin, CEO - Africa New Energies
Mossgas could supply 8% of the crude oil South Africa imports… those imports cost the economy about R200 billion per year…
Stephen Larkin, CEO - Africa New Energies
Total is looking for the fastest route to commercialisation… that involves working with the natural gas infrastructure supplying Mossgas … and converting Gariqwa into a large, natural gas-fired power station rather than a peaking plant using diesel at four times the cost… that’s R20 billion of imports substituted by local supply…
Stephen Larkin, CEO - Africa New Energies
Last year, Total said they expect first production in 2028 on Brulpadda…
Stephen Larkin, CEO - Africa New Energies
Listen to the interview in the audio below.
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