South Africa to name preferred bidders for gas projects in March

South Africa will announce preferred bidders for multi-billion dollar gas-to-power projects by the end of March as part of efforts to diversify electricity production away from more environmentally damaging coal plants, a government document shows. Tender documents in May last year asked consortia to submit plans to build South Africa's first liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal, gas-fired power plants, storage facilities and transmission pipelines, according to a department of energy memorandum due to be released on Monday and seen by Reuters.