Page 12 - DMEA Week 50 2022

DMEA REFINING & FUELS DMEA

The LPG terminal is in Saldanha Bay (Image: Sunrise Energy)

An affidavit by Barthlo Harmse, a director at Sunrise Energy’s total liabilities as of Octo-
Ilitha, indicates that the position Sunrise finds ber 2022 are recorded as being approximately
itself in was a result of control that RBH has at ZAR1.4bn, with the total senior debt for the IDC
board level because of MOGS non-executive and PIC at about ZAR927mn. The business,
chairperson, Albertinah Kekana, who is also an therefore, is unable to generate any returns, or
executive director of RBH. service the excessive debt obligations that have
Kekana is a qualified chartered accountant resulted in this application, Harmse says.
who held the position of PIC’s chief financial Additionally, the development phase of the
officer prior to taking up his role as MOGS project appears not to have included any indi-
chairperson, writes IOL. viduals skilled in the construction of LPG ter-
The court documents claim that the main minals and storage facilities.
reason for the company’s worsening financial This resulted in excessive expenditure and
situation is due to the conditions of an exclu- the weather-prone infrastructure, which causes
sive “throughput take-or-pay agreement” with periodic supply issues. Further, there are reports
an LPG aggregator Vita Gas procured through the facility is over-engineered and not fit for
MOGS despite strong objections from Ilitha. purpose.
According to Harmse, the board, led by The Saldanha Bay terminal is currently the
Kekana, also exercised “poor management and only infrastructure available for LPG imports
reckless borrowing.” As a result, Sunrise Energy into the Western Cape. Harmse claims that
has fallen into a position where its liabilities the Western Cape and surrounding areas may
well exceed its assets, as appears from the lat- potentially run out of gas as a result of weak pro-
est audited annual financial statements for the ject development and reckless management at
period ending December 2020. Sunrise Energy.
Harmse further confirms that the total It should be noted that the PIC and IDC are
capital cost of the terminal was approximately organs of the state and are able to fund projects
ZAR1.1bn, which was funded via the share- as a result of investing cash received from pen-
holder loans, with the balance being funded by sion funds such as the Government Employees
way of senior debt. Pension Fund and the Unemployment Insur-
However, previous research by IOL indi- ance Fund, among others.
cated that a facility of similar size to the Sunrise The current situation at Sunrise Energy now
Energy facility of 5,500 metric tonnes should places the large investments these funds have
have cost around ZAR400mn to construct. made at risk, IOL reports. ™

Kenya to fast-track universal clean

cooking fuel use to cut CO2 emissions

AFRICA KENYA’S government is developing a strategy the strategy at the third annual Clean Cooking
aimed at increasing the use of modern clean Week forum earlier in December.
cooking solutions in a bid to mitigate the global Clean cooking methods include using cli-
climate crisis and reduce respiratory illnesses, mate-friendly, efficient biomass stoves, as well
Capital FM reports. as switching from solid biomass and kerosene
Under the National Clean Cooking Strategy, to cleaner, environmentally friendly options
the Energy and Petroleum Ministry has been such as biogas, bioethanol, LPG, solar PV and
tasked with ensuring that Kenya achieves its tar- electric cooking.
get of universal access to clean energy by 2028. Chirchi noted that 59% of Kenyans use tradi-
Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchi revealed tional fireplaces for cooking.

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 50 15•December•2022