South Africa’s iconic mines, from the ever-deepening gold shafts on which the economy was founded to massive iron ore pits and rich platinum seams, are about to go silent. From midnight Continue Reading
South Africa needs to seriously start thinking about shifting its energy focus. This is for two reasons. The first is that the country’s important exports – coal and platinum – Continue Reading
South Africa’s struggling state power firm Eskom said on Sunday that it would extend electricity cuts until 5 a.m. local time (0300 GMT) on Monday. Eskom said late on Saturday Continue Reading
After nearly a decade of delays, South Africa has just joined some 40 countries that have enacted national carbon tax policies, aiming to curb the rise in carbon emissions to Continue Reading
South Sudan and South Africa have inked an exploration and production sharing deal for oil in a sign that South Sudan is well on its way to put its best Continue Reading
South Africa is facing an energy crisis. The once distinguished national public energy provider, Eskom, has been driven to the point of collapse by “years of corruption, incompetence and political Continue Reading
In early-February, South Africa discovered huge reserves of oil and gas off its shores. President Cyril Ramaphosa, along with many experts, described the find as a “game-changer” and promised legislation Continue Reading
Many South African politicians, economists and specialists in the energy sector are celebrating the news that a promising show of natural gas has been discovered in deep water south of Mossel Bay. Continue Reading
French oil and gas major Total’s discovery offshore South Africa could be around 1 billion barrels of total resources and is “probably quite big”, the company’s chief executive Patrick Pouyanne, Continue Reading
Fuel rocket to its most expensive yet come Wednesday, according to the latest increase announced by the Department of Energy (DoE). Both grades of petrol, 93 and 95 (ULP & Continue Reading
The funds will be used to build refineries for one and will also be used to advance petrochemicals and renewable energy projects in the developing economy of South Africa. The Continue Reading
Cape Town — Motorists’ wallets are in for another shock after the June petrol price hike. Minister of Energy Jeff Radebe has announced a 23 cents price increase for 93 Continue Reading
A natural harbor to the northwest of Cape Town keeps a secret that oil tracking professionals are still trying to uncover. The secret is exactly how much oil is in Continue Reading
Saldanha Bay in South Africa is home to one of the world’s largest crude storage facilities, with a current capacity of 45 million barrels (although more is coming online later Continue Reading
Because Cape Town sits between picturesque beaches and mountains, it is a favored travel destination . And, its weather during the summer is described as “almost too perfect.” That’s in Continue Reading
South Africa’s Cape Town, one of the world’s iconic tourist destinations, could run out of water by April as the city’s worst drought in a century risks forcing residents to Continue Reading
Companies said to be selling crude from Saldanha Bay in Africa Brent crude time-structure strengthens, encouraging sales Oil traders are emptying one of the world’s largest crude storage facilities, located Continue Reading
South Africa, the continent’s second largest economy, with the most organized business and financial sector in the region, has had its share of electricity related issues culminating in a spate Continue Reading
China’s Sinopec ( 600028.SS ) ( 0386.HK ) said on Wednesday it has agreed to pay almost $1 billion for a 75 percent stake in Chevron Corp’s ( CVX.N ) Continue Reading
South Africa’s land is known for its resources such as platinum, gold, diamonds, copper and coal. But its waters may be hiding future giant oil and gas discoveries potentially capable Continue Reading
Future giant discoveries may be lurking in the Outeniqua Basin offshore South Africa, according to Anongporn Intawong, a team leader geologist at Spectrum. Future giant discoveries may be lurking in Continue Reading
The South African government said Tuesday it was expecting to reap the rewards of shale natural gas, with exploration slated as early as 2017. Royal Dutch Shell is among the Continue Reading
To boost gas use across southern Africa A cooperation agreement has been signed to build a $6 billion, 2,600 km pipeline to send natural gas from offshore Mozambique to South Continue Reading
European energy companies among those showing interest in basins in southern African waters. Statoil and Eni add Mozambique acreage to their portfolios. Photo by James Jones Jr./UPI STAVANGER, Norway, Oct. 30 (UPI) — Southern African waters drew more interest from energy explorers with Norway’s Statoil and Italy’s Eni wading into Mozambique waters. Statoil and Eni were among those winning bids to explore for potential reserves in the waters off the coast of Mozambique, where depths range from 650 feet to 5,900 feet. Nick Maden, a regional exploration director for Statoil, said Mozambique waters are among the more promising frontier basins in the area , where the oil potential is said to be "significant." "The position strengthens and develops our global exploration portfolio," he said in statement. Eni last year said it discovered natural gas in a well in an area off the Mozambique coast thought to hold 85 trillion […]
South Africa doesn’t need another oil refinery because the slowing economy has curbed demand and the country has ample gasoline production, said Shash Rabbipal, the new chairman at the local unit of Chevron Corp., the second-largest U.S. energy company. “Should another refinery be built, it would mean that the country would have to increase its exports of products and this would mean a change from the current practice of ensuring that supply catered mainly for local demand,” Rabbipal, 47, said Friday in an interview in Cape Town. He has worked for Chevron for 25 years and was appointed to the post last week. The six South African refineries, including San Ramon, California-based Chevron’s Cape Town facility, process a combined 703,000 barrels of crude a day, exceeding demand, according to Rabbipal. State-owned PetroSA Ltd. proposes a new plant on the south coast that would be the biggest on the continent […]
SOWETO, South Africa—Residents of this sprawling township famous for its resistance to white-minority rule are fighting a battle they thought consigned to history: keeping the lights on. National power company Eskom Holdings Ltd. is reeling from years of underinvestment and poor management, surrendering to power outages that frequently plunge Soweto’s 1.3 million residents into darkness. Nonayona Mkeshana and her neighbors have resorted to cooking over open fires and singing and dancing in the street now that television sets have gone dark. “We’ve had to get used to it, to survive,” said Ms. Mkeshana, a 59-year-old grandmother who lives with her son and his children. South Africa’s Treasury on Wednesday said it sold its stake in mobile company Vodacom Group Ltd. VOD -1.87 % to raise $2 billion to keep Eskom solvent. Chief Executive Brian Molefe said blackouts could continue for months as Eskom catches up on years of neglected […]
ENLARGE DRDGOLD sends 60,000 tons of sludge through its machinery every day to extract traces of gold at its processing plant in Brakpan, South Africa. Photo: Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg News BRAKPAN, South Africa—It takes a lot of power to extract traces of gold from the 60,000 tons of sludge DRDGOLD Ltd. DRD -4.05 % sends through its machinery here each day. That is something that the Johannesburg-based company hasn’t been able to count on recently. “It’s a worrying thing that you’ve got to watch all the time,” said Niël Pretorius, DRDGOLD’s chief executive. South Africa used to be one of the few countries on the continent where most people had reliable access to electricity. But a lack of maintenance and investment has pushed state-run power provider Eskom Holdings Ltd. into a daily crisis as it struggles to meet demand. Blackouts are threatening to drive Africa’s second-largest economy off a cliff, […]
ENLARGE South African petrochemicals company Sasol Ltd. has cut 1,500 jobs and said more will go, the latest layoffs in a global oil sector contending with the commodity’s price rout. Head count at the company will be “dramatically down” by June, with Sasol pressing ahead with steep cuts in capital spending and a reduction in its annual dividend, Chief Executive David Constable said. But Mr. Constable said the scale of the industry’s cutbacks are such that they might catapult oil prices higher again in 2017 after their roughly 50% slide since last summer. “The capital projects that we’re cutting back on—that the majors are cutting back on—these projects take years and years to start back up. You don’t flip the switch,” he said in an interview. “That’s what could give you a high-side well above 100 [dollars a barrel],” he said. Sasol itself has “put on the shelf…until further […]
(Bloomberg) — South African President Jacob Zuma said his priority is to solve the energy crisis in the country that’s curbing output at mines and factories and stifling economic growth, including adding more nuclear power by 2023. “We will pursue gas, petroleum, nuclear, hydropower and other sources as part of the energy mix,” Zuma, 72, said in his annual state-of-the-nation speech in Parliament in Cape Town on Thursday. “The country is currently experiencing serious energy constraints which are an impediment to economic growth and is a major inconvenience to everyone in the country.” Zuma’s speech follows nine consecutive days of rolling blackouts implemented as demand for power outstripped supply. State utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd., which provides 95 percent of the nation’s electricity, has warned of almost-daily blackouts until the end of April. The power crisis has soured investor appetite for South Africa’s currency and debt. The rand reached […]
A rendering for one of Sasol’s projects near Lake Charles, La. ENLARGE Photo: C.H. Fenstermaker & Associates, LLC South African energy giant Sasol Ltd. said Wednesday it was shelving an $11 billion project on Louisiana’s Gulf Coast, imperiling one of the largest foreign investments on U.S. soil because of the plunge in oil prices. Sasol has spent years planning to expand its chemical factory outside Lake Charles, La., into a sprawling facility to turn natural gas into industrial compounds and diesel fuel. In October, the company committed $8 billion for equipment that produces ethylene, which is used to make plastics and other products. That plant is still going forward, but Sasol said on Wednesday that a bigger project, to use natural gas rather than crude to make diesel, is on hold. Plummeting oil prices have forced it to push back its own 2016 deadline for deciding whether to build […]
South Africa has an electric bill coming due that’s threatening everything from its swimming pools to its sovereign debt. Consumers are asked almost daily to switch off their water heaters, pool pumps and anything else that will save power during peak periods. Industrial customers are also asked to conserve energy, even if it means reducing production. And when that’s not enough, Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. orders managed blackouts. The state-owned utility can’t provide reliable electricity to run Africa’s second-largest economy. It has a long-term plan to expand generating capacity by more than 40 percent, while facing a 225 billion-rand ($20 billion) funding shortfall through 2018. The company has faced supply shortages for years and has said it may be another five years before it can guarantee the lights will always be on. “Eskom is in dire straits,” said Anne Fruhauf, southern Africa analyst at New York-based risk adviser Teneo […]
A South African environmental group renewed its call for a moratorium on shale-gas fracking, as the government moves closer to a decision on whether to allow the process opponents say imperils water quality. The Treasure Karoo Action Group, named after the semi-desert area of South Africa that has attracted petroleum exploration companies, started in Johannesburg today the latest phase of a campaign to block the drilling technique. An April 2011 moratorium placed on shale-gas exploration in South Africa ended in September 2012. The government on Oct. 16 published proposed regulations for hydraulic fracturing as it seeks to tap as much as 390 trillion cubic feet of resources in the Karoo. Opponents of fracking, which blasts water, chemicals and sand into rock to release natural gas, say it risks contaminating ground water. Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) is among explorers to have applied for permits to explore the Karoo. South […]
