Botswana government awards CBM gas-to-power tender

Tlou Energy Ltd., Brisbane, will move ahead on coalbed methane development on the 900-sq-km prospecting license 002/2004 in western Botswana, South Africa. The Ministry of Mineral Resources, Green Technology, and Energy Security granted the company a 25-year mining license to terminate in August 2042.

The ministry requires an annual $9,000 license fee with an additional royalty of 3% of gross market value, opting not to take up a sharehold in the project. No minimum spend is stipulated in the license and project development can commence at any time.

Tlou has operated in the region since 2007, flaring its first gas in 2014 at its Lesedi CBM project, which holds an estimated 3.2 tcf of gas. The company holds a mining license and nine prospecting licenses covering 8,300 sq km in Botswana. Tlou is pursuing a scalable gas-to-power project in the region capable of generating 100 Mw.

Tlou was shortlisted with Sekaname Pvt Ltd. for the ministry’s CBM tender. Botswana’s government developed the initiative to facilitate CBM supplies to its own 90-Mw Orapa power plant, which is 150 km north of Tlou’s Lesedi CBM project.

Contact Tayvis Dunnahoe at [email protected].