SA waits while Eskom diesel has to queue
Petroleum from another ship had to be pumped out first before vessel with generator fuel could get its turn
The diesel needed to fire up Eskom’s open-cycle gas turbines was aboard a ship in Mossel Bay harbour waiting to be offloaded when the turbines ran out of fuel on Monday.
The diesel-fired turbines are essential to close the power gap and avoid or minimise loadshedding. The diesel shortage forced SA into stage four loadshedding of 4,000MW on Monday, the largest Eskom has had to drop to keep the grid stable.
Eskom said on Thursday that PetroSA, owners of the tanks into which the diesel is pumped, had given an assurance that the diesel would be available on Monday. But on Monday it was still queuing in the harbour as another ship offloaded petroleum into the PetroSA tank.
Andrew Etzinger, Eskom’s acting head of generation, said while diesel had run extremely low on Monday and Tuesday, supplies have now been fully replenished. “We are now in good shape with diesel which, once it is offloaded, is pumped into the pipeline, which happens very quickly,” he said.
PetroSA said on Thursday while offloading the cargo meant for Eskom was delayed, it “continued to supply Eskom with diesel from its existing stock” throughout the week.
“Berthing facilities at the Mossel Bay harbour impose constraints on the time it takes to offload products as the facilities only allow the berthing of one vessel at a time. This means that the petrol cargo that arrived on Thursday was still offloading when the diesel arrived on Sunday,” said a spokesperson.
The petrol was fully discharged by Tuesday, after which the diesel cargo had to undergo mandatory sampling for quality checks, which takes up to 24 hours. PetroSA began discharging Eskom’s diesel stock by late afternoon on Wednesday.
WE ARE NOW IN GOOD SHAPE WITH DIESEL WHICH, ONCE IT IS OFFLOADED, IS PUMPED INTO THE PIPELINE, WHICH GOES VERY QUICKLY