Green energy supplier Renergen’s Virginia Phase 2 gas project, in South Africa’s Free State, has achieved a significant milestone with the receipt of environmental authorisation (EA).

The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy has granted an EA in terms of Section 24 of the National Environmental Management Act in accordance with the Environmental Impact Assessment regulations for the various Nema-listed activities related to the company’s Phase 2 project, which include planned drilling, and construction of the gas gathering pipeline and liquid natural gas (LNG) and liquid helium process plant including balance of plant activities.

Additionally, there has been a noteworthy 88% increase in LNG production to 1 564 t, compared with 823 t in the previous quarter.

This was attributable to fewer plant interruptions and breakdowns as typically experienced when commissioning a new facility, Renergen said on September 29.

“We expect this rate of production to remain stable until the next jump in production as we ramp to full-scale production in due course,” said CEO Stefano Marani.

Another positive update for the second quarter was the successful repair of the helium cold box, which had a leak in the helium cold box module prior to initial performance testing. The cold box was removed and taken offsite to a suitable engineering and repair facility for inspection, repair and testing by the original-equipment manufacturer.

The repair was undertaken successfully, and the cold box module had now been delivered back to site and was in the process of being reinstalled and recommissioned, Renergen confirmed.

“The team is currently focused on achieving our most critical milestone, the turn-on and production of liquid helium. Subsequently, we will initiate the tank filling process, leading to the final performance test, which will signify the unit's readiness for handover from an engineering perspective,” Marani noted.

The company anticipates the performance test will be completed in November, though it is dependent on all the various steps leading up to this event being executed.

This repair of the helium cold box has not impacted the current progress on the Virginia gas project’s Phase 2 project, as both processes are running in parallel.

Moreover, the integration of seismic and aeromagnetic data has led to the discovery of new gas anomalies, indicating potential future developments.

Further, the drilling operations have seen the spudding of two new wells, both demonstrating signs of gas presence even before reaching the intended target depth of 650 m. These accomplishments signify significant progress and potential for the Virginia Phase 2 gas project, the company said.