Tag: South Africa

France’s Total has made a significant gas condensate discovery on the Brulpadda prospects, located on Block 11B/12B in the Outeniqua Basin, 175 kilometers off the southern coast of South Africa. After reaching the main goal, the well was deepened to a final depth of 3,633 meters and has also been successful in the Brulpadda-deep prospect.  Total along with its partners plan to acquire 3D seismic this year, followed by up to four exploration wells on this license. 

A new floating caisson will be created for the Sturrock Dry Dock operated by Transnet National Ports Authority in the Port of Cape Town. This will enable one of the biggest dry dock facilities in the Southern Hemisphere to double its productivity. The new caisson is part of an overhaul that is taking place at the port’s ship repair facilities under South Africa’s Operation Phakisa programme.

South Africa's port of Durban resulted with an overall throughput of 2.975 million TEU, increased from the 2.699 million in 2017. That’s an rise of 276.000 TEU for the year, equal to over 10%, which will be a boost to Transnet Port Terminals (TPT). Nationally the increase on containers was 5.3% with the total for all ports reaching 4.833 million TEU, according to the Mercury.

Drewry reported that due to the latest disaster at the Brazilian mine, Córrego de Feijão, it is possible that the Capesize demand will be decreased by approximately 35-40 vessels in 2019. In a timeframe of one year, one Capesize vessel transfers two million tonnes of iron ore from Hedland to Qingdao, while the same vessel ships just 0.7 million tonnes in a year from Itaqui to Qingdao.

South Africa’s Richards Bay Coal Terminal informed earlier this week that 2018 coal exports decreased to 73.47 million tonnes from its record high of 76.47 million tonnes in 2017, due to less exports to South Korea. Namely, Africa’s largest coal export facility was aimed to export at least 77 million tonnes of coal in 2019, reaching its 2018 target.

Saudi Arabia has its eye on constructing an oil refinery in South Africa as part of a pledge to invest as much as $10 billion in Africa’s most developed economy, according to Bloomberg. The Saudi Aramco and South Africa's Central Energy Fund are to conduct joint surveys based on a refinery and petrochemical complex. The negotiations highlight South Africa’s aspiration to add a refinery, which it has under consideration for a decade.

South African authorities have seized 706 kilograms of cocaine with a street value of R720 million, hidden on a container ship coming from Brazil, in the Port of Ngqura, Coega Harbour. The ship was coming from Brazil and was to dock in Singapore before reaching its final destination in India.

Trading company Toyota Tsusho and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation are joining forces on a port project in Angola that will be the largest of its kind for Japanese businesses, according to Nikkei Asian Review. Both companies aim to raising 70 billion yen ($643 million) from public and private lenders in Japan. Their goal is to help the African fund the effort. 

Mahesh Fakir, CEO of the Ports Regulator of South Africa, after considering the application and the latest available data, concluded that an appropriate overall adjustment in average tariffs for the financial year 2019/20 would be a decrease of 6.27%.

Transnet National Ports Authority is considering to introduce a helicopter service at the Port of Cape Town to boost efficiency of operations in heavy weather conditions. The move comes on the aftermath of the recent serious weather-related disruptions in Cape Town that affected port operations and pilots transfers.