In the midst of the greatest energy crisis in South Africa’s history, Australian gas explorer Kinetiko Energy has been granted a renewal for a large area of approximately 3,135km2 to advance it’s conventional and coal bed methane opportunities in the country.
Yesterday it was reported that South Africa set a record for nationwide power outages that reached Stage 6 over the weekend and were on the brink of unprecedented Stage 8, which would mean no electricity for 12-14 hours a day. More than half of utility Eskom’s installed capacity of 48 000MW was unavailable yesterday,
Blackouts, called loadshedding, have cost the South African economy billions of dollars and are implemented to prevent a total collapse of the grid. A combination of decades long corruption, theft, sabotage and mismanagement have crippled Eskom, the heavily indebted power utility and earlier this month the government declared a state of disaster over its power issues in a country where the mines need 30% of all generated capacity. The latest “loadshedding” was said to be a result of heavy rains which had disrupted coal supplies and unplanned breakdowns at four power stations nationwide.
Against this backdrop and not a moment too soon, Subiaco-based Kinetiko announced the renewal of exploration licences it said “represents a substantial portion of the Company’s current exploration rights and support the majority of the planned exploration activities of 2023 (See Map)”.
“The renewals granted are for the first of potentially three renewal periods of two years. The company intends to apply for production rights in the near future over these exploration rights with would be valid for an initial period of 30 years.”
setting a new record for massive outages that reached Stage 6 over the weekend and on the brink of Stage 8 loadshedding, which would mean no electricity for 12-14 hours a day.
