Page 12 - AfrOil Week 05 2021

AfrOil POLICY AfrOil

He added: “We really need to be talking time, Sentsho also said he was confident that
because the more we continue to extend, the BOL would be able to fulfil the government’s
more the cost escalates. It is better to make mis- instructions with respect to establishing strate-
takes along the way than to want to be perfect gic reserves that were large enough to cover at
until we have run out of time.” least 60 days’ worth of petroleum product con-
Joel Sentsho, BOL’s chairman, responded by sumption. “Ideally as a landlocked country, Bot-
saying that his company remained committed to swana should maintain at least 90 days’ cover,”
the goal of ensuring the country’s energy secu- he stated. “Upon completion of the [Tshele
rity. “The Tshele Hill project is one of the ena- Hills] project and other planned projects across
blers that will assist us to achieve this mandate, the country, including the Francistown Depot
and we will do our best to ensure that the project expansion and the Ghanzi Depot development,
is delivered successfully,” he commented. Botswana will reach this objective.” ™

PROJECTS & COMPANIES
Saipem enlisted for South African LNG FEED

SOUTH AFRICA ITALY’S Saipem has been enlisted to undertake The Johannesburg-based developer has also
front-end engineering design (FEED) work for hired South Africa’s EPCM Holdings for FEED
the second phase of Renergen’s Virginia LNG work on a gas gathering system for the second
and helium project in South Africa. phase. The company is currently constructing
Under its contract Saipem will design facil- the first-phase pipeline.
ities for producing LNG and liquefied helium, Meanwhile Canada’s Sproule will evaluate
including a gas purification unit and a gas and certify Virginia’s second-phase reserves. It
liquefaction unit that employs its own Lique- will base its estimates on additional data acquisi-
flexTM-N2 technology. It will also draw up tion and drilling work currently underway. The
plans for product storage and offloading units company bought MHA Petroleum Consultants
and associated utilities. in 2019, which had previously been taking part
Virginia will draw from gas fields that contain in the project.
very high quantities of helium across Welkom, The three companies will present their stud-
Virginia and Theunissen in South Africa’s Free ies in the second quarter of this year, after which
State. First-phase production is due to start up Renergen expects to take a final investment
later this year and produce at a rate of 350 kg per decision (FID).
day of helium and 2,500 GJ of LNG. The com- Hiring the trio is a “significant step forward
pany has said that the helium will be exported, in the planning of Phase 2, as it not only defines
while the LNG will be used domestically, pri- the total capital expenditure required but will
marily for long-haul vehicle transport. clearly help define the project’s financial param-
The second stage will be “significantly more eters,” according to Stefano Marani, Renergen’s
substantial,” Renergen has said. CEO.

The Virginia gas project will support Renergen’s LNG plant (Image: Renergen)

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 05 03•February•2021