By: Green Building Africa

Kinetiko Energy confirms that its is positioning itself as a near term gas producer in South Africa, backed by what it describes as a major onshore conventional gas discovery close to existing energy infrastructure and industrial demand centres.

The company said its field development plan is built around an initial compressed natural gas, or CNG, production phase at Brakfontein, using existing wells and modular processing equipment. It expects first commercial gas from this phase in late 2027.

Kinetiko said its resource base includes 6.0 TCF of 2C resources and 5.8 TCF of 2U prospective resources, with further upside expected as it expands across additional acreage. It also said certified 2P reserves of 6.4 BCF have been assessed over the Brakfontein pilot area, which covers only 0.2% of its granted tenements.

The company said its exploration work has delivered a 100% drilling success rate so far, with all 50 wells encountering gas. Kinetiko added that the gas sits in shallow conventional sandstone reservoirs, which it said reduces the need for fracking and supports lower cost development.

South Africa’s energy shortage remains a central part of the investment case. Kinetiko said coal based power is declining and that the country faces a gas supply gap as Mozambique fields are expected to deplete by 2028. The company said gas demand is likely to rise sharply as industry and power users look for alternative fuels.

Its phased rolling cluster strategy begins with the Brakfontein cluster, where four existing wells are planned to be tied into a central manifold and a mobile CNG facility. The next phases would use production data from the first cluster to guide additional wells, hybrid LNG and CNG output, and eventually a full field LNG operation.

Kinetiko said it has also signed a binding joint development agreement with FFS Refiners, with R6.2 million already advanced, and has an agreement with the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa to co-develop a gas pilot plant and scale toward full production. Project finance group Cresco has been engaged to help source additional development partners.