Page 14 - DMEA Week 33 2021

DMEA
NEWS IN BRIEF
DMEA
Assad in the civil war.
Lebanon’s army seized fuel from petrol
stations on Saturday to curb hoarding amid crippling shortages, as the central bank chief stood firm on his decision to scrap fuel subsidies.
Compounding the country’s crisis, a top private hospital said it may have to close due to power outages caused by shortages of diesel, warning this could cause hundreds of deaths.
Foreign currency reserves are rapidly depleting, forcing the central bank to scale down funding for imports in an effort to shore up the little money Lebanon has left.
The Lebanese pound has lost more than 90 percent of its value on the black market, and 78 percent of the population lives below the poverty line.
AL JAZEERA
PETROCHEMICALS
Petrochemicals industry
threatened by a vicious
circle
Historically, the petrochemicals sector has been a great source of economic opportunity for South Africa. In its heyday, it was a thriving sector of the economy but today
it is hindered by poor cashflow, increasing retrenchments, and an ever-widening skills gap. These elements work together to create
a vicious cycle which is gaining momentum, threating the industry’s ability to innovate and explore new economic opportunities.
“While oil prices are bouncing back after the negative impact of the pandemic and international trade wars, there are several challenges facing our petrochemicals industry,” explains Yershen Pillay, CEO of the Chemical Industries Education and Training Authority (CHIETA). “The industry is suffering, largely due to a shortage of chemical
engineers, mechanical engineers, and data scientists. At the same time, investment in training and education is the first casualty when cashflow is under threat – this means there are fewer resources available to unlock the talent pipeline and invest in the engineers we need,” he explains.
CHIETA is the sector education
training authority for the chemicals sector, which covers nine sub-sectors including petrochemicals. They facilitate skills development in the sector and ensure that skills needs are identified and addressed through several initiatives in partnership with higher education institutes, public entities, training providers, and private organisations. These initiatives are funded by levies collected from the nine industries, although the petrochemicals sector is the biggest contributor to these funds for the chemicals sector, with 37%.
“Levies are calculated based on salary spend. When the petrochemicals sector suffers, retrenchments increase, the salary spend decreases, and fewer funds are made available for skills development initiatives,” explains Pillay. CHIETA’s research into scarce skills has identified a shortage of chemical engineers.
Why is this a problem? As the world moves towards cleaner, greener fuels, some may question the need to support the petrochemicals sector which is traditionally associated with heavy carbon emissions.
The answer lies in our ability to innovate, according to Pillay. “A good example now
is South Africa’s drive towards creating a thriving hydrogen economy. Hydrogen is
one of the most important products and intermediates of the modern petrochemical industry, and recent news points to many new opportunities in this sector.”
In July, Sasol and the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa (IDC) announced their plans to cooperatively shape the advancement of South Africa’s hydrogen economy. Amongst others, they aim to develop pilot and commercial scale
hydrogen projects to pioneer viable and sustainable solutions, access local and international financing options, and pursue strategic projects that benefit the country’s energy transition and economic development goals.
Without well-trained and world-class chemical engineers, mechanical engineers, and data scientists, South Africa will
struggle to take advantage of these new opportunities. Pillay encourages companies in the petrochemicals sector to not lose sight of longer-term gains, urging them to consistently invest in education and training initiatives. CBN
TERMINALS & SHIPPING
Prostar refinances Fujairah terminal
Prostar Capital, a leading midstream energy infrastructure firm, announced Aug. 17 that
it has successfully completed a refinancing for its portfolio company Fujairah Oil Terminal (FOT). The new $280 million debt facility
will replace the existing senior debt as well as create a capital expenditure facility to fund the connection of the terminal to the Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) jetty and ADCOP pipeline, which delivers Abu Dhabi’s Murban crude to Fujairah.
FOT is a 7.4 million-barrel bulk liquid storage terminal located in the Port of Fujairah, UAE, a major strategic energy trading center and one of the largest bunkering ports in the world. FOT is the top ranked independent facility in the Port, contributing 29% of 2020 throughput and representing about 12% of the Fujairah storage market.
“We’re very excited to be able to take advantage of FOT’s strong financial performance and beneficial market conditions to conduct this refinancing,” said Steve Bickerton, senior managing director at Prostar
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Week 33 19•August•2021