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Free State Business 2017 edition

  • Text
  • Infrastructure
  • Development
  • Province
  • Investment
  • Business
  • Network
  • Bloemfontein
  • Municipality
  • Manufacturing
  • Economic
  • Province
  • Provincial
  • African
  • Opportunities
  • Mangaung
  • Industrial
Free State Business 2017 is the seventh edition of this highly successful publication that has since its launch in 2008 established itself as the premier business and investment guide to Free State Province. Supported and utilised by the Free State Development Corporation (FDC), Free State Business is unique as a business journal that focuses exclusively on the Free State.

OVERVIEW Oil and gas

OVERVIEW Oil and gas Sasolburg is at the heart of South Africa’s oil and gas industry. SECTOR INSIGHT A helium plant is set to exploit a new gas field. • A gold miner is extracting power from methane gas. An energy-from-methane power plant now running at the Beatrix Gold Mine neatly encapsulates a shift from the old economy to the new. Although the Sibanye-owned gold mine still has significant reserves of the mineral, it is the shift to this new technology that is sparking interest and showing the way to creative energy solutions. Sibanye’s predecessor, Gold Fields, was the first gold miner to sell Certified Emissions Reduction (carbon trading units) and now the mine is producing 2MW of power for the mine’s operations. The Beatrix Project was registered as a methane-gas-capture project with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Aggreko, a company that specialises in providing temporary power, is running the operation in partnership with Sibanye. During the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, Aggreko supplied 253 generators to stadiums and broadcast centres. The Natref fuel refinery is one of only four in South Africa and the country’s only inland refinery. It is strategically placed at Sasolburg near to the industrial hub of southern Gauteng. The petrochemical complex at Sasolburg is a major national asset. Among the many chemical, oil and gas companies operating out of Sasolburg are several companies within the Sasol group. One of these, Sasol New Energy, has been working on moving the group away from reliance on fossil fuels. The gasto-electricity power plant in Sasolburg delivered 1 348 263 megawatt hours of electricity in 2014. This takes the total generation capacity of Sasol up to about 70% of its requirements. The resulting savings will improve Sasol’s profit margins, reduce carbon dioxide emissions and take pressure off the national electricity grid. FREE STATE BUSINESS 2017 48

Oil The Natref fuel refinery is a joint venture between Sasol Oil (63.6%) and Total SA (36.3%). It is a technologically advanced facility, which refines heavy crude oil into petrol, diesel, commercial propane, jet fuel and bitumen. The capacity is 92 000 barrels per day. Between 60% and 70% of petroleum is distributed by pipeline, 20% to 25% by road and 5% by rail. The products sold by Sasol Oil include both lead replacement and unleaded petrol, Sasol turbodiesel, a range of lubricants, industrial fuel oils, illuminating paraffin and liquid petroleum gas, in addition to marine diesel oil and bitumen. Petroleum Agency SA is a government agency that supports exploration for onshore and offshore oil and gas resources and regulates exploration and production activities. The agency is the custodian of the country’s database related to all exploration and production. Gas South Africa is turning to gas as an alternative to coal as an energy source, with Sasol being the major supplier. Sasol is doing its own conversions at its plants. The major economic sectors using gas are the metals sector (48% of volume, although the steel sector’s downturn will affect this negatively), and the chemical, pulp and paper sector (about 20%). Brick and glass manufacturers are also big consumers. OVERVIEW A major investment by Afrox (a member of the Linde group) will see a R200-million plant built to extract helium near Virginia. Renewable energy company, Renergen, owns the right to the natural gas and helium field around Virginia (which has proven reserves of 25-billion cubic feet). Afrox will operate the plant and sell the helium. Bus companies are in the market to buy another product, which the plant will supply, compressed natural gas. This will be a cheaper alternative than diesel. Afrox operates a CO2 liquefier at Sasolburg, which is aimed at supplying the bottling and hospitality markets, where demand is strong. Pipelines Pipeline gas supplied from Sasolburg amounts to 27.3-million gigajoules, with customers mostly in the greater Johannesburg area, the industrial complex east of the city, and Durban. Gas raw materials come mainly from the by-products of Sasol’s petroleum plants at Secunda (Mpumalanga) and Sasolburg. Products include oxygen for medical use, liquefied petroleum gas for industrial, household and recreational use, and oxygen and acetylene. Specialised gases such as argon, helium and nitrogen are also produced. One of Sasol’s most important pipeline travels 865km through four South African provinces, including the Free State, from Mozambique’s gas fields. Transnet Pipelines is the key national operator in this field, handling an average of 16-billion litres of liquid fuel, and more than 450-million cubic metres of gases every year. The liquid products are leaded and unleaded petrol, aviation turbine fuels, diesel and crude oil. One of the pipeline intake stations is at the crude refinery at Coalbrook (Natref) in the Free State, and the pipeline network stretches out over the province into KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, North West and Mpumalanga, and Botswana and Mozambique. Transnet Pipelines employs 600 staff and its clients include all of South Africa’s major fuel companies, namely: BP, Caltex, Engen, Exel, Sasol Oil, Sasol Gas, Tepco, Shell and Total. CONTACT INFO Department of Economic, Small Business Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs Physical address: Bojanala Building, 34 Markgraaf Street, Bloemfontein 9300 Tel: 086 110 2185 | Fax: +27 51 400 9593 Website: www.edtea.fs.gov.za Petroleum Agency SA: www.petroleumagancy.com Sasol: www.sasol.com South African National Energy Association: sanera.org.za 49 FREE STATE BUSINESS 2017

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