Our strategy is to expand the Virginia Gas Project in phases
From project development and construction to production operations
In order to construct the country’s first commercial liquefied natural gas facility and Sub-Saharan Africa’s first liquid helium plant, it was necessary to diversify our funding sources from South Africa and to look globally for investors familiar with these commodities. In 2018 helium was added to the US government’s critical minerals list, and hence our Phase 1 project was debt funded through a loan of US$ 40 million from the US Development Finance Corporation (DFC), along with an equity initial public offering on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) in Australia which was concluded in 2019.
Phase 1 has been divided into three stages to allow for a measured startup while the plant ramps up to nameplate capacity of 2,560 MMBtu of LNG per day and around 75 mcf of liquid helium. Stages 1 and 2 were completed at the end of October 2022 and collectively consist of 16 wells, the LNG and liquid helium processing plant and associated utilities. LNG production commenced in November 2022, and liquid helium production, or helium liquefaction, was achieved in January 2023. The third and final stage of Phase 1 involves the drilling of additional wells and completing the associated gas gathering and tie in connections for these wells to ramp up Phase 1 to its maximum production capacity successfully.
Our Phase 1 facility began production of LNG in November 2022, and initial helium liquefaction took place in January 2023, before moving into a finalised commissioning and performance testing phase. We unfortunately discovered a leak in the system that required repair, ultimately seeing the Virginia Gas Project producing liquid helium again in April 2024.
Our products are sold under long-term agreements to blue chip customers, helping them diversify their energy mix and reduce their overall carbon footprint while securing the country’s strategic supply of helium.