South African energy company Sasol has cut gas supplies to South Africa from its fields in neighboring Mozambique due to unrest near its production facilities, company spokesman Alex Anderson told local media on Thursday.
"We have informed various gas users and customers that we cannot supply gas at full production rates to maintain the stability of the gas value chain and pipeline network," Alex Anderson, a company representative, told the local radio station SABC, adding that the measure was taken to ensure the safety of our people and assets.
How much Sasol has reduced gas supplies from Mozambique to South Africa is not disclosed. The company's management also did not specify what currently threatens its employees and assets in the neighboring country.
A group of opposition activists seized a Sasol-owned gas processing plant in the Inhassoro region of southern Mozambique on December 24 and blocked its supply to South Africa. Sasol has a license to extract gas in Mozambique at the Pande and Temane fields. It also operates an 865 km long pipeline through which gas from these fields is delivered to South Africa.
As of now, Pande and Temane provide 90% of South Africa's total imports of natural gas. It mainly goes to industrial enterprises.