Renergen marks final milestone at Virginia Gas Project

Renergen said on July 11 it had achieved natural gas-to-plant connectivity at its Virginia gas project, situated in South Africa's Free State province.

Virginia's upstream gas fields were formally connected on July 8 to the project's processing, filtration and pre-compression complexes. Renergen is now working on the project's final commissioning activities, with first gas expected before the end of this month.

Virginia is the first and only onshore petroleum production concession granted in South Africa, Renergen claims. It comprises 187,000 hectares of gas fields in the Welkom, Virginia and Theunissen areas. The rich helium composition and high methane concentration of its gas reserves will allow Renergen to produce both liquid helium and LNG from source.

Stefano Marani, CEO of Renergen, said: "We have worked towards positioning the Virginia Gas Project as a globally significant LNG and helium producer, and we are very close to delivering on this goal.

"Now we know that the plant is safe and critical startup risks have been addressed, the remaining steps are purely mechanical, which is obviously a major source of relief to everyone."