Name and Location
Liquefied natural gas import facility, Western Cape, South Africa.

Client
PetroSA.

Project Description
The facility, should it be built, will enable PetroSA to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) as part of several efforts to supplement dwindling gas reserves at the company’s gas-to-liquids (GTL) refinery, often referred to as Mossgas, at Mossel Bay, in the Western Cape. The GTL refinery is operating at less than 50% of its 42 000 bl/d nameplate capacity, owing to feedstock constraints. The proposal entails importing LNG into Mossel Bay through a floating LNG facility, comprising a breakwater and berth structure, which will allow a permanently moored floating, storage and regasification unit to discharge vaporised LNG into a subsea and overland pipeline to Mossgas.

The decision of whether to include a single or a double-berth facility and whether to site the infrastructure in Voorbaai or Vleesbaai should be made in the coming few months.

The project will also include supply to Eskom, which is keen to convert its Gourikwa open-cycle gas turbine peaking power plant, in Mossel Bay, from diesel to gas and transform the facility into a midmerit electricity plant.

PetroSA and Eskom’s collective gas requirements have been calculated at 1.2-million tons a year.

Value
The project is estimated at between $375-million and $510-million.

Duration
PetroSA is aiming integrate LNG imports from 2018.

Latest Developments
PetroSA is aiming to make an investment decision on a $375-million to $510-million LNG import facility in the fourth quarter of 2014.  The project, which has gone through various iterations over the past few years and which was even shelved once, is being pursued to improve gas supply security for Mossgas.

The GTL refinery is operating at less than 50% of its 42 000 bl/d nameplate capacity, owing to feedstock constraints. These will be partly mitigated later this year, once gas begins to flow from the field, which is being developed as part of PetroSA’s Ikhwezi offshore development.

However, production from the F-O field is more expensive and technically challenging than the group’s previous offshore operations and will also secure feedstock for the refinery only until 2020. Therefore, the group is aiming to integrate LNG imports from 2018 and is moving ahead with a feasibility study and front-end engineering design (Feed), which is being conducted by WorleyParsons.

Simultaneously, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) is overseeing an environmental-impact assessment (EIA) for the LNG offloading facility, with the first round of public consultations having generated more than 600 written comments and objections from stakeholders.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
CSIR (EIA) and WorleyParsons (feasibility study and Feed).

On Budget and on Time?
The project has previously encountered various challenges such as its commercial viability.

Contact Details for Project Information
PetroSA group communications manager Thabo Mabaso, tel +27 21 929 3365 or email thabo.mabaso@petrosa.co.za.
CSIR, tel + 27 12 841 2911 and fax +27 12 349 1153.
WorleyParsons, tel +27 21 912 3000 or fax +27 21 912 3222.