Sasol to start Mozambique gas drilling programme in third quarter

South African petrochemicals firm Sasol would start driling at its hydrocarbon exploration project offshore Mozambique, in the third quarter of this year, the company said on Wednesday.
Should the drilling campaign be successful, Sasol planned to supply the natural gas to markets in Mozambique and South Africa.

The announcment followed the completion of the drilling and towing contract with the Mozambican State oil company, Empresa Naçional de Hidrocarbonetos E.P (ENH), to pursue the hydrocarbon project.

Sasol had signed a lease agreement for a mobile offshore drilling unit with Transocean Offshore International Ventures. The two towing and anchor handling vessels to support the rig would be supplied by Varun Shipping Company. The rig and vessels were expected to arrive in Mozambique towards the end of August.

“The drilling of explorations wells will take place in deep water, well away from the shallow environmentally sensitive waters of the Bazaruto Archipelago. Safety and protection of the environment will be key to the drilling exploration programme that is expected to be completed by year end,” said group general manager for Sasol’s international energy cluster Lean Strauss.

Sasol Petroleum Sofala Limitada and ENH are the concession holders of Blocks 16 and 19 offshore Mozambique. The exploration area covers about 11 000 km² and is directly opposite Sasol’s existing onshore gas operations at Pande and Temane.

“The drilling campaign is a further demonstration of our commitment to upstream development in Mozambique and the technical and commercial ability of Sasol to execute upstream exploration projects,” Strauss added.

Mozambique clears $280m cane-based ethanol plant

Mozambique has approved a $280-million agricultural project to produce ethanol from sugar cane, a cabinet spokesperson said on Wednesday.

Luis Covane, also Mozambique's deputy Education and Culture minister, told Reuters the project was expected to produce about 2,5-million tons of sugar cane each year, from which 213-million litres of ethanol would be produced annually.

"Production will begin in 2012 and will generate 82,5 MW of power and create 2 650 jobs and we have also allocated 18 000 hectares of land to the implementing company, Mozambique Principle Energy, which has Mauritian interests", Covane said.

He said 20 percent of the power output would be exported and the remaining 80 percent had been earmarked for national use.

"We expect to generate an annual revenue of $57-million in 2011, another $119-million the following year and $114 in 2013."

The project will be launched in Dombe district in the central Manica province.

In 2007, the government approved a $510-million biofuels project in the southern Gaza province to produce 120-million litres of ethanol by 2010.

The project, known as PROCANA, will also create 7 000 jobs and an annual revenue of $40-million as of 2010.

Complete construction of the factory, by a Brazilian contractor, is expected to take three years.

Moz mining, exploration investment rising, thanks to 2002 minerals law reforms

Mining investment in Mozambique grew for the seventh year in succession last year, reports the country’s government.

Investment in the country’s mining sector totalled $217-million in 2007, and total investment in the sector since 2001 is now about $1-billion.

Mining now accounts for 5% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and its contribution is growing. Maputo hopes that the sector could be providing as much as 15% of GDP as soon as 2010.

The growth in mining and exploration is due to the reform of the country’s minerals legislation in 2002, says Minerals Resources Ministry national director Fátima Momade, “which created the ideal conditions to attract investment”. Mineral and metal resources that have been identified in Mozambique include bauxite, bentonite, beryllium, clays, coal, diatomite, gold, granite, graphite, heavy mineral sands, iron-ore, mica, pegmatite, phosphates, precious and semiprecious stones, tantalite and uranium.

Among mining projects under development in the country are the $1,3-billion Moatize coal project, by Brazil’s Companhia Vale do Rio Doce, expected to be commissioned in the second half of 2010; Irish-domiciled Kenmare Resources’ $450-million Moma titanium minerals project, which started exporting last December; and Corridor Sands’ Chibuto heavy mineral sands project, which would extract both titanium and iron from sand.

Jersey- (British Channel Islands-) based Noventa is focused on tantalum. Its Marropino mine is ramping up production and is currently the only industrial-scale tantalum mine in the country. The company also mines commercial quantities of morganite at Marropino.

Noventa’s Morrua project is expected to come into production in 2009, and the company also has exploration and mining rights for its Mutala project, as well as exploration rights for its Ginama and Gile projects.

South Africa’s Finstone Group quarries granite in Mozambique.

On the exploration side, projects currently under way include Aus- tralia-domiciled Riversdale Mining’s search for coking coal across 23 exploration tenements (with India’s giant Tata Steel as a partner in a number of these), and Mantra Resources – another company listed in Australia – looking for sandstone-hosted uranium.

Mozambique is already a producer of natural gas, through South African petrochemicals giant Sasol’s $1,2-billion Temane gas project, and further exploration for both natural gas and petroleum is taking place, involv- ing a number of major energy companies.

Meanwhile, the authorities in Sofala province, in the centre of the country, have lifted the ban on mining in the Gorongosa district, imposed in 2004. The ban was imposed in an attempt to halt the depredations of illegal artisanal miners, known as garimpeiros, looking for gold, who were operating in disregard of their own safety and of the environment, as well as not paying any taxes on the precious metals they extracted.

Garimpeiro activities polluted the Pungué river and the final straw was a fatal accident, claiming the life of one of the illegal artisanal miners.

Madagascar : adhère à la zone de libre-échange de la SADC

L'intégration régionale va faire un bon en avant au sein de la SADC avec la création de la zone de libre-échange qui sera effective au mois d'août 2008. Madagascar, est un des îles du Sud Ouest de l'Océan Indien qui va intégrer la zone de libre-échange de la Communauté de développement de l'Afrique Australe (SADC). Cela signifie que 85% des produits en provenance des 14 Etats membres de la SADC seront exonérés de taxe douanière. La SADC représente un potentiel de 250 millions de consommateurs. Cette intégration nécessite une compréhension très poussée des procédures d'exportation et d'importation. C'est dans ce contexte que le USAID a organisé un atelier de travail pour les partenaires du secteur public et privé. Le défi est de rendre les opérateurs plus compétitifs et de pénétrer de nouveaux marchés.

A part la SADC, Madagascar est aussi membre de la COI et du COMESA. En principe, la Grande Ile va adhérer à l'Union douanière en décembre 2008. Tout comme les Seychelles et Maurice se pose le problème de multiples appartenances à des structures d'intégration régionale. Dans la pratique, il n'est pas possible d'adhérer à deux unions douanières. La même question s'était posée dans le cadre des Accords de Partenariat Economique avec l'Union Européenne. La question de multiple appartenance a été référée depuis plus d'une année à l'Union Africaine et les recommandations de cette instance se font toujours attendre. Une telle clarification est plus que nécessaire et donnera une plus grande cohérence à la politique d'intégration régionale dans les îles du Sud Ouest de l'Océan Indien.

Renault-Nissan alliance invests R1bn in SA

The Renault-Nissan alliance is investing R1-billion in the local manufacture of the Renault Sandero as well as the Nissan NP200 small pick-up.

The NP200 is the successor to the well-known 1400 bakkie, which had to be replaced as it did not meet emission standards applicable in South Africa as from January this year.

The two cars are developed on the same platform, namely the B0, or Logan platform.

The new Nissan half-ton pickup and the Renault Sandero are to be produced at Nissan’s Rosslyn plant, just outside Pretoria.

The plant first opened its doors in 1963, and produced its millionth car in 1992.

The plant currently assembles the Hardbody, Tiida Hatchback, Tiida Sedan, Grand Livina, Livina and Livina X-Gear, and now also the NP200.

The plant produced some 44 000 vehicles in 2007.

Production of the Renault Sandero will start in 2009. There is no official production forecast available for this model.
Some 300 jobs will be created in the plant in 2008.

Components nor produced locally for the two models, will come from Romania, India (right-hand drive components), Brazil (stamping parts), and Turkey and Spain (powertrains).

It is not anticipated that the project will lead to increased production capacity at the plant, currently at 54 000 units a year on a single eight-hour shift, or 140 000 units making use of three seven-hour shifts.

Renault South Africa MD Xavier Gobille says the Sandero “will represent affordable motoring, produced to meet the needs of the South African market, and will be the first Renault product manufactured in South Africa”.

In the coming years, Renault will expand its product line-up offered to South African customers with vehicles ranging from entry-level to the more exclusive range, he adds.

Among them will be New Twingo and Koleos, Renault’s first crossover model, to be introduced into South Africa later this year.

Nissan South Africa MD Mike Whitfield says his company are targeting sales of more than 17 000 units a year for the NP200.

The company sold 6 800 Nissan 1400 bakkies in the 2007 financial year, down from just over 10 000 in 2006.

It is not yet known what the price of the NP200 will be, due to be launched locally in October.

The Renault-Nissan alliance says it is looking at the possible local assembly of more vehicles from the same platform.

Export of the Sandero and NP200 is also possible, especially into Africa, adds Whitfield.

The alliance, created in 1999, sold 6,1-million vehicles globally in 2007.