Maputo — The South African petrochemical giant Sasol has announced that it is selling its share of the gas-fired Ressano Garcia Thermal Power Station (CTRG), in the far south of Mozambique to the Nigerian company, Azura Power Limited, for 145 million US dollars.
Sasol has a 49 per cent holding in CTRG. The other 51 per cent is owned by the Mozambican public electricity company, EDM. CTRG has an installed capacity than can produce 175 megawatts of power.
Sasol, which is facing a financial crisis, had announced in June its intention to sell its CTRG holding. It has now signed a Sale Securities Purchase Agreement with Azura Power.
A Sasol release said “This transaction is part of the Company´s ongoing, strategy aligned, asset divestment programme”, but added that “Sasol remains fully committed to upstream operations in Mozambique, which continue to be integral to Sasol´s strategy”.
The deal is not yet complete, the Sasol release said “The transaction is subject to a number of conditions precedent, which include regulatory approval and the waiver of pre-emption rights held by EDM”.
Sasol’s main interest in Mozambique lies in the onshore natural gas fields at Pande and Temane in the southern province of Inhambane, and the gas pipeline carrying the gas to the Sasol chemical plants in the South African city of Secunda.