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Monday, March 8, 2010.

From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Shannon de Ryhove.

Making headlines today:

Zambia has chosen Glencore Energy as the preferred bidder to supply 1,4-million tons of petroleum feedstock to the southern African country over two years.
Zambia is the continent's top producer of copper and uses a lot of diesel in the mining operations that are the backbone of its economy.

Zambia Public Procurement Authority spokesperson Hazel Zulu says that the central tender committee granted authority to the Ministry of Energy and Water Development to enter into negotiations with Glencore Energy.

The Ministry of Energy and Water Development is expected to report back to the central tender committee within 21 days after which a decision will be made whether to award the contract to Glencore or not.

Zulu says that the issues to be agreed with the winner will include the timeframe for the supply of the first cargo through the port of Dar es Salaam, in Tanzania.

Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane says that, by 2055, the Gauteng province would reduce its overall energy consumption by 18% from business-as-usual projections and its carbon emissions by 49% in relation to 2007 levels.

Mokonyane has emphasised that the province must, by that time, have a modern energy system where fossil fuel use and fuel poverty were markedly reduced.

The development of the strategy, which was aimed at directing the way energy was supplied and used in the province in the coming five, 16 and 46 years, was spearheaded by the Gauteng Department of Local Government and Housing.

Also making headlines:

South African paper group Sappi says that a power crunch is coming.
South Africa's Department of Mineral Resources is still mum on Sishen's mine rights.
French power generation company Alstomplans to bid for South Africa's planned new pressurised water reactor nuclear power plant.
And, the R5,6-billion Cape Town Container Terminal expansion is on schedule.

And that's a round up of news making headlines today.