Coega oil tank project set for completion next month
An Orion Engineered Carbons (OEC) oil tank project which will see oil used to produce carbon black flowing from the port of Ngqura to the special economic zone is due for completion next month.
Technical difficulties and bad weather delayed the facility being ready for weeks as a vessel already waits to offload the first batch of oil to be moved through a 5.2km pipeline into two 18,000m³ tanks.
Carbon black is a material with many applications, including the production of rubber tyres, inks, dyes and paints.
Yesterday, trade and development deputy minister Fikile Majola and finance MEC Mlungisi Mvoko visited the zone to inspect the R332m storage terminus project.
Majola and Mvoko also inspected zone 10, where R206m in infrastructure has been invested to kick-start aquaculture at the SEZ.
“We have had some challenges, but we are working with the Coega Development Corporation (CDC) because we know the importance of this project to the province,” OEC managing director Nomfundo Faltein said.
“We are very close to completion, but there are just small technical things we are dealing with.”
OEC nearly closed shop when the Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) announced that it would be decommissioning the Dom Pedro tank farm and Dom Pedro terminal at Gqeberha’s port.
The farm and terminus were crucial for importing and storing the liquid fuel used by OEC, based in Deal Party, to make carbon black.
The investment in the Coega storage terminus was made possible through the intervention of the CDC, a partnership with TNPA and the department of trade and industry while OEC built the tank farm
— allowing it to continue operating in the Bay.
The company committed R60m to the project and the CDC facilitated investment totals of R272m, which covered infrastructure provision. “Three years ago, we were sending letters to our customers to tell them we were in the process of closing down and they would have to import the raw material they use,” Faltein said.
“This is not only an Orion project, but a project for the whole Eastern Cape and SA because we are the only company in the country which produces carbon black.”
She said the increased storage capacity — three times what was available at the Gqeberha tank farm — would enable them to upscale production and ease the cost of oil transport.
“We already have a vessel that is waiting to be offloaded into the tow tanks.
“We used to have vessels coming once a month and now it will be once a quarter.
“We are very excited and looking forward to commissioning so we can start using it when it is officially handed over.”
CDC project manager Maria van Zyl said the contractor had been delayed by two weeks of bad weather.
“The aim was that the tanks would be painted after the delivery of the first oil — which is part of the hot commissioning
— and that will be finished by the end of April and the beginning of May.”
Majola said the project highlighted the importance of special economic zones for the economy and how they could be used to build new cities.
“We need to change the conversation about special economic zones so we can elevate their importance in our economy,” Majola said.