South Africa aims to boost gas import facilities

South Africa: South Africa plans to improve its pipelines and ports to allow for more gas imports for use in power generation, the acting director general of the Department of Energy said yesterday. Africa's most advanced economy is dependent on coal for power and also uses relatively expensive diesel for turbines.

State-run power utility Eskom, which is implementing controlled power blackouts in a bid to keep the lights on as demand threatens to outstrip supply, plans to replace diesel with gas to run its generators within the next three years to save on costs. Cash-strapped Eskom's woes are spurring the search for other sources of energy for power generation such as gas.