Mpumalanga Business 2017 edition

OVERVIEW
Exploration in the Evander area
in Mpumalanga.
Many of the big mining and
manufacturing concerns in
Mpumalanga have long-term
contracts for the supply of gas
with big gas companies. Afrox
and Air Liquide are two of the
biggest, with the latter having
3 500 national customers, which
include Sappi and Sasol.
Eskom’s innovative underground
coal-gasification (UCG)
project puts the power utility at
the forefront of exploring ways
of using coal in a more environmentally
responsible way. UCG
is a process whereby coal is converted
into a synthetic powergenerating
gas underground.
When it comes to liquid petroleum
gas, mostly used in
households (and normally delivered
by canisters), some changes
are coming for consumers. The
Competition Commission wants
to make the sector more competitive,
and aims to do this by reducing
the duration of contracts between
bulk sellers and refineries.
(Mail & Guardian). South Africa’s
LPG market is worth R1.5-billion
per annum and the country produces
300 000 tons of product.
One of the aims of the commission
is to make LPG cheaper and
more easily available to private
consumers, who currently make
up just 3% of the market.
Fuel
The Secunda Synfuels Operations
facility, which forms part of the
Sasol complex at Secunda, is the
only commercial coal-to-liquid
fuel plant in the world, and forms a vital part of South Africa’s oil and
gas sector.
Sasol is an international integrated chemicals and energy company
that produces a range of product streams including liquid fuels, chemicals
and low-carbon electricity. Several of the company’s divisions have
plants at Secunda in Mpumalanga.
In 2016 Sasol completed the R13.8-billion Secunda growth programme,
which delivered an increase in volumes from Secunda
Synfuels (to a record 7.8-million tons).
Pipelines
Together with its partners in Rompco (a consortium that includes a
Mozambique gas company and iGas, the South African state agency
for gas), Sasol will spend a total of R4.8-billion on pipelines to get gas to
customers in Mozambique and in South Africa. The main pipeline runs
to the Sasol facility at Secunda from the processing plant at Temane,
Inhambane Province, southern Mozambique, 870km away. The upgraded
and expanded pipelines should be able to carry upwards of
200-million gigajoules per annum.
A 145km multi-product pipeline links the Sasol facilities at Secunda
and Sasolburg in the Free State province.
South Africa has four major pipeline networks: crude oil, gas, jet
fuel and multi-product.
The first litres of diesel fuel ran along Transnet Pipelines’ new multiproduct
pipeline (NMPP) in January 2012, launching a new era for
the transportation of fuels to the Highveld. The old pipeline was
inaugurated in 1965.
The NMPP will be able to carry about 26-billion litres of fuel every
year. Refined products such as jet fuel, sulphur diesel and both kinds
of octane petrol will be carried.
State entity Transnet Pipelines owns, operates, manages and maintains
a network of the 3 000km pipelines that make up the bulk of the
national network.
ONLINE RESOURCES
Central Energy Fund: www.cef.org.za
Petroleum Agency SA: www.petroleumagency.co.za
PetroSA: www.petrosa.co.za
Sasol: www.sasol.com
South African Oil and Gas Alliance: www.offshoreafrica.co.za
South African National Energy Association: www.sanea.org.za
South African Petroleum Industry Association: www.sapia.co.za
Transnet Pipelines: www.transnetpipelines.net
49 MPUMALANGA BUSINESS 2017