Name of the Project
Sunrise Energy liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) import terminal.

Location
Saldanha Bay, Western Cape, South Africa.

Client
Sunrise Energy is majority owned by MOGS (60%), a subsidiary of Royal Bafokeng Holdings (RBH), with the State-owned Industrial Development Corporation (31%) and Illitha Group Holdings (9%) as minority participants.

Project Description
The project’s terminal facilities include a multibuoy mooring (MBM) system, located in Big Bay, Saldanha Bay, for the berthing of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) tankers. The MBM is connected by a 3.2 km pipeline to an on-land storage facility.

The LPG will be discharged from ships at the MBM and transported to the onshore terminal by a subsea and overland pipeline to the onshore terminal, where the LPG will be batched and stenched to SANS 1774 specification before being dispatched to customers using road/rail loading and direct cylinder filling or a pipeline to downstream customers or storage facilities.

Phase 1 of the Sunrise Energy terminal consists of 5 500 t of storage and will allow for the throughput of up to 16 500 t/m of LPG. The project is designed in a modular way to respond to growth in demand, with an ultimate storage capacity of 16 500 t (after the implementation of Phases 2 and 3), with an ultimate throughput capacity of 49 500 t/m or 594 000 t/y.

The LPG terminal will be an open-access facility – it can be used by LPG importers, distributors or downstream users to import LPG.  This will ensure easier entry for all participants in the LPG distribution sector.

Subsequent phases will be suited for the delivery of LPG to a power generation project in Saldanha, should it be required.

Jobs to be Created
The construction portion of Phase 1 provided about 450 jobs. Once the terminal is completed, an operational staff complement of about 60 personnel will be required.

Value
Phase 1 will cost an estimated R 1.02-billion.

Duration
On-site construction started in February 2016. Phase 1 of the terminal was fully commissioned by June 2017.

Latest Developments
The open-access terminal was officially launched on August 8, 2017, at an event attended by Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel and Energy Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi.

Speaking at the launch, Patel said that the facility would provide a R1-billion boost to the South African economy.

Sunrise Energy CEO Pieter Coetzee said that LPG had the potential to displace 1.2 GW of electricity during peak hours, noting that LPG was up to 50% more cost effective than electricity for light commercial and domestic thermal applications.

Sunrise operates an open-access model, allowing for the entry of new participants in the LPG industry, subsequently increasing competition. Coetzee stressed that the facility would not own or trade LPG products, but would facilitate the provision of LPG to the market at competitive pricing and maximum tariffs set and regulated by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa.

The facility is considered a strategic project as envisaged by the Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating Commission.

Although the terminal was officially opened in August, operations started about two months prior to the ribbon-cutting event.

In June, the terminal discharged its first shipment of 2 450 t of LPG. This shipment was sourced from West Africa.

The first LPG vessel was offloaded in about 5 hrs, after which 25 t was loaded into LPG trucks in about 20 mins – a level of efficiency “unheard of in South Africa”, according to the company.

Sunrise Energy is planning to build rail links to the country’s interior, which will allow for cost-effective supply to inland markets. The company is in negotiations with State-owned Transnet to build a R50-million railway line that opens up the market for LPG in the Free State, Namibia, Botswana and Mozambique. The railway line is expected to be operational by 2018.

Sunrise says provision for modular expansion – Phases 2 and 3 of the project – will enable the company to meet regional LPG supply demands for the next 30 years.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Aveng Engineering (engineering and procurement); Wilson Bayly Holmes Ovcon (onshore terminal construction); Clough Murray & Roberts Marine (marine facilities and pipeline construction); Efficient Engineering (LPG bullet fabrication); and Mammoet (transportation of LPG bullets).

On Budget and on Time?
Sunrise encountered several unforeseen delays following the start of early construction and fabrication of the LPG bullets in February 2014. The project got back on track, with full construction starting in February 2016 and the first LPG delivered in May 2017. The project was fully commissioned in June 2017 and officially opened in August 2017.

Contact Details for Project Information
Sunrise Energy general manager: commercial, Arthur Martin, tel +27 21 913 7000, fax +27 913 7007 or email arthur@sunrise-energy.co.za.