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

Client
PetroSA.

Project Description
PetroSA has terminated the project.

The proposed project entailed importing LNG into Mossel Bay through a floating LNG facility, comprising a breakwater and berth structure, which would allow for a permanently moored floating, storage and regasification unit to discharge vaporised LNG into a subsea and overland pipeline to Mossgas.

The project was expected to include a single- or a double-berth facility and the infrastructure would have been sited in Voorbaai or Vleesbaai.

It would also have included supply to Eskom, which was keen to convert its Gourikwa open-cycle gas turbine peaking power plant, in Mossel Bay, from using diesel to gas and transform the facility into a midmerit electricity plant.

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

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

Duration
PetroSA was aiming to integrate LNG imports from 2018.

Latest Developments
For the past year, PetroSA has been conducting the feasibility study for the LNG import facility, of which the environmental assessment and, in particularly the scoping phase, is a component.

The feasibility study is now complete and the detailed technical studies have shown that a floating LNG terminal in Mossel Bay, even behind a breakwater, is technically and commercially challenging, owing to metocean condition and the impact primarily on berth availability. Maximum throughput is likely to be limited to two-million tons a year, which could serve only the local market – PetroSA’s GTL refinery and Eskom’s Gourikwa power plant.

The Department of Energy (DoE) is drafting a Gas Utilisation Master Plan – a government initiative to identify South Africa’s gas demand and timelines, and linking these with feasible supply options. The master plan envisages that South Africa’s first LNG terminal should be able to supply multiple offtakers. A floating LNG terminal in Mossel Bay is, therefore, also not well suited to meet certain of the DoE’s stated objectives.

Given the findings of the feasibility studies, which required in-house approval to progress the decision between feasibility and front-end engineering design, was not obtained for the project.

As a result, PetroSA is terminating all current studies on locating the LNG import terminal in Mossel Bay. It is also withdrawing its application for environmental authorisation for the listed activities that form part of the proposed construction of this offshore facility in the Mossel Bay area.

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

On Budget and on Time?
The project had 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.