CAPE TOWN, June 10 (Reuters) - Canada-listed Africa

Energy Corp is aiming to start production from South

Africa's largest gas discovery by 2033, its CEO said on Tuesday,

as it forges ahead with a project former operator TotalEnergies

walked away from.

The company is awaiting regulatory approval for a reworked

environmental authorisation to survey Block 11B/12B off South

Africa's southern coast.

Using domestic gas is a key part of South Africa's strategy

to diversify away from coal-fired power generation, with a

flurry of new projects being pursued including the country's

first liquefied natural gas import terminal along the east

coast.

"Our 11B/12B indigenous gas should be very competitive

versus imported LNG," Robert Nicolella said from the Africa

Energy offices in Cape Town.

Nicolella said the company was studying various ways to

market the gas, although its preference is to supply a

gas-to-power plant. South Africa is targeting 6,000 megawatts of

new gas power projects.

The CEO said Africa Energy is currently in talks with former

national oil company PetroSA to use some of its infrastructure

to land gas from the Brulpadda and Luiperd fields at Mossel Bay.

TotalEnergies first mooted using PetroSA's infrastructure,

which includes the FA offshore platform in Block 9, to help

accelerate production.

The idea was to connect Block 11B/12B to existing subsea

pipelines that run to the FA platform and from there onwards to

Mossel Bay.

"It could be a commercial alternative. It's an option,

without a doubt," Nicolella said of using PetroSA

infrastructure.

Africa Energy's majority-owned local subsidiary Main Street

1549 was left as operator of Block 11B/12B after TotalEnergies

and joint venture partners QatarEnergy and

Canadian Natural Resources ( CNQ ) decided to leave the project

last year.

Announcing its withdrawal last July, TotalEnergies said it

appeared to be "too challenging to economically develop" and

monetize the gas discoveries for the domestic market, without

elaborating.

Main Street will hold a 75% participating interest in the

block and Arostyle Investments the remainder, according to

Africa Energy Corp's website.