Avedia Energy plans to invest $32.3 million over the next three years building a LPG import terminal in South Africa. The terminal, to be located in the Port of Saldanha, will be the country’s largest LPG import facility.
Construction of the first dedicated LPG import terminal facility is expected to start in July.
This facility is the first to be built on a coastline that stretches 4,300 km from Luanda, Angola to Richards Bay on the KwaZulu Natal coast in recent time. And it is the only LPG import storage facility in the Western Cape, according to Avedia Energy.
The planned facility will offer an overall storage capacity of 8000 mt, boosting the existing import LPG storage capacity in South Africa by at least 80%.
“Avedia’s first LPG storage tanks are due to arrive at the Port of Saldanha in the last week of April and will be offloaded and stored on Avedia’s site adjacent to the Saldanha Bay port,” the company said in a statement. “Once the EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) is complete, construction will begin with completion expected in December 2013.”
The company has already entered into a contract to import 100,000 mt of LPG from the Bonny River Terminal in Nigeria. Additionally, Avedia Energy is currently in talks with other local industrial LPG consumers to ensure the scope of their LPG requirements.
Atose Aguele, MD of Avedia Energy said the company’s entry into the South African market was aimed at addressing the shortfalls of the current production and support infrastructure in South Africa and the wider southern African region.
“The benefits of LPG as a viable, safe and clean fuel energy alternative have been well documented globally. But the uptake of LPG as a viable alternative in South Africa has largely been hampered by grave inadequacies in the LPG production and supply chain,” Aguele said.
Source: www.petroleumafrica.com
