It is completely understandable that the perception one forms of various industries will depend on where in the world their experience is gained.
Unlike most households in Europe and North America, very few in South Africa enjoyed the convenience of piped fuel-gas supply. Coal fuelled town-gas systems in Johannesburg and a few other cities were closed-down during the 1980s due to pollution problems and because the expanding national power grid provided ample electricity supplies at very low cost.
The first natural gas pipeline into South Africa was commissioned in 2004, supplying gas imported from the bordering state of Mozambique to the North East. Natural gas has replaced much of the fuel gas previously distributed by pipeline from the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis plants operated by Sasol and is also supplied to domestic consumers in Johannesburg via the old town-gas reticulation.
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