The government of Botswana intends to fast-track the development of a US$4bn coal-to-liquid (CTL) refinery, which is expected to be commissioned by 2025. The state-owned oil and gas company Botswana Oil has launched a tender process to find an investor interested in developing the plant. No details concerning the planned capacity has been released. Preliminary talks were held with Sasol, which already operates a CTL project in South Africa.
In addition, the country intends to build a 100 MW pilot power project burning coal bed methane. Two companies, Tlou Energy and Sekaname, a subsidiary of Kalahari Energy, have been pre-selected to implement the project. In September 2019, Shumba Energy created a joint venture with Chinese companies PowerChina and Wilson group to build a US$1.5-2bn coal-to-liquids plant. In 2017, Botswana imported more than 90% of its oils products domestic consumption (around 22,000 bbl/d).