South Africa bets on LPG

© Google MapsBuilding a new LPG terminal in Saldanha will make distribution of the fuel much easier across RSA's Cape Town province

In late April 2013, first tanks that will form the basis for the emerging storage LPG terminal came from a Chinese producer to the port of Saldanha, in the Republic of South Africa, after 6 weeks of traveling. The terminal will provide continuous supply of fuel for the province of Cape Town.

Construction of the terminal started in July 2013 as an investment by Avedia Energy. The company plans, over the next three years, to invest 32,3 million dollars in LPG infrastructure. The terminal in Saldanha is going to be the investment's key element. This will be the largest facility of this kind in South Africa, eventually reaching storage capacity of 8000 tonnes of LPG. In the first phase, up to December 2013, the terminal will be capable of holding 4000 tonnes of liquefied propane and buthane.

The project is very important for the Western Cape, because out of South Africa's total annual LPG consumption of 380 thousand tonnes, this single province consumes about 120 thousand tonnes, which is nearly one third of domestic consumption. Most industrial LPG customers are located near the port of Saldanha.

Nowadays LPG is imported to the Western Cape by means of road transport from Port Elisabeth, located over 1640 km away. This generates substantial costs that could be avoided after the completion of the terminal.