Minister of mineral resources and energy Gwede Mantashe said PetroSA would have the resources and technical capacity to run at optimal level within 18 months. He said he was insisting the entity’s management return petroleum and gas production to normal as soon as possible.
Mantashe was replying orally to questions in the National Assembly on Wednesday. The replies come as PetroSA implements a turnaround of its operations and finances after years of challenges.
The R14bn exploration project PetroSA started in 2012, project Ikhwezi, yielded no positive results by 2020. PetroSA has a number of plans to build a network of gas-fired electricity plants it believes could feed 180MW into the grid for up to seven years.
It is planning to use two facilities in the Western Cape to process gas and condensate, with a long-term feedstock solution under development to supply feedstock at production capacity from 2027. Production at the facilities was suspended in 2020 due to feedstock challenges.
ANC MP Valentia Malinga asked Mantashe when he envisaged the war room taking the gas-to-liquids refinery out of care and maintenance and when turnaround options to secure the cash flow would be concluded.
“We have sent out a tender for bids to partner with PetroSA because it was quite clear that it needed more resources and technical capacity to return the refinery to capacity. We are hoping to complete that in the next 18 months,” Mantashe replied.
“PetroSA is going to return to production. Actually, talking to the team, we said turning a profit on the sales side does not mean that plants must not return to production. We must return those plants to production because if we can do that, South Africa will be better,” he said.
Asked what has happened since the failure of project Ikhwezi to hold individuals accountable and recover any lost funds, the minister said the entity’s main focus was to get the entity back to running its own affairs efficiently, especially the production of petroleum and gas.
“The external support is directed at equipping PetroSA to be self-sufficient. Otherwise, the alternative would be to say that the fiscus must fork out that money. I always say that project was an example of asset stripping,” Mantashe said.
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PetroSA should be in tip-top shape in 18 months, says Mantashe
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Minister of mineral resources and energy Gwede Mantashe said PetroSA would have the resources and technical capacity to run at optimal level within 18 months. He said he was insisting the entity’s management return petroleum and gas production to normal as soon as possible.
Mantashe was replying orally to questions in the National Assembly on Wednesday. The replies come as PetroSA implements a turnaround of its operations and finances after years of challenges.
The R14bn exploration project PetroSA started in 2012, project Ikhwezi, yielded no positive results by 2020. PetroSA has a number of plans to build a network of gas-fired electricity plants it believes could feed 180MW into the grid for up to seven years.
It is planning to use two facilities in the Western Cape to process gas and condensate, with a long-term feedstock solution under development to supply feedstock at production capacity from 2027. Production at the facilities was suspended in 2020 due to feedstock challenges.
ANC MP Valentia Malinga asked Mantashe when he envisaged the war room taking the gas-to-liquids refinery out of care and maintenance and when turnaround options to secure the cash flow would be concluded.
“We have sent out a tender for bids to partner with PetroSA because it was quite clear that it needed more resources and technical capacity to return the refinery to capacity. We are hoping to complete that in the next 18 months,” Mantashe replied.
“PetroSA is going to return to production. Actually, talking to the team, we said turning a profit on the sales side does not mean that plants must not return to production. We must return those plants to production because if we can do that, South Africa will be better,” he said.
Asked what has happened since the failure of project Ikhwezi to hold individuals accountable and recover any lost funds, the minister said the entity’s main focus was to get the entity back to running its own affairs efficiently, especially the production of petroleum and gas.
“The external support is directed at equipping PetroSA to be self-sufficient. Otherwise, the alternative would be to say that the fiscus must fork out that money. I always say that project was an example of asset stripping,” Mantashe said.
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