Cape Town - The imminent reopening of the Glencore-owned Astron refinery in Cape Town has been welcomed by Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Gwede Mantashe.
As the country remains in the grip of load shedding, Mantashe on Wednesday opened the Africa Oil Week (AOW) Conference at the CTICC.
The conference brings together petroleum industry captains, government leaders, academia and non-governmental organisations to deliberate on various matters in the oil and gas sector.
Mantashe said discoveries of significant oil and gas in neighbouring Southern African Development Community (SADC) member countries were encouraging as they would strengthen energy production.
“The imminent reopening of the Glencore-owned Astron refinery in Cape Town is welcome news. When it closed due to an accident, it ran on West African crudes, and we expect it to continue where it had left off. This reopening will boost security of supply to the region.
“Intra-Africa trade in oil and gas, including knowledge sharing on technologies that help us towards net zero carbon emissions, is of absolute necessity. This means we must invest in beneficiation to boost manufacturing.
“This meeting should therefore help us forge partnerships, government-to-government, and government and business.
We should speak in one voice about Africa’s choice for her energy pathway – one that is just, is about her people, her fauna and flora, and her economic well-being. This includes food security.
For a continent that consumes two thirds of her oil produce and exports the remaining one third, according to the Africa Energy Outlook 2022 Report, attempts by the EU to move away from Russian gas imports are an opportunity for Africa’s oil and gas to earn income through exports into Europe.
“We must, at the same time, be mindful of the gradual withdrawal of major oil companies in Africa’s downstream sector, particularly refining.”
Africa Petroleum Producers Organisation (APPO) secretary-general Dr Omar Ibrahim said Africa should not be dictated to when it came to the use of its resources.
However, strategic lead at the Green Connection, Liz McDaid said: “The Green Connection notes that Mantashe, refers to Africa’s energy pathway that should be just, be about her people, her fauna and flora and her economic well-being. This includes food security. “These sentiments, in our view, are not compatible with promoting the off shore extractive oil and gas industry.
“Coastal communities rely on the ocean for food security but the minister proposes to put this at risk and push for oil and gas extraction.
“The reopening of the Astron refinery to import Nigerian oil might be a temporary solution to South Africa’s petroleum refining woes, but we need to move rapidly away from oil and gas and we cannot brush under the carpet the social and environmental harm to the people of the Nigerian delta due to the oil industry.
“With a country rich in renewable solar and wind resources to meet energy security without risking food security, we have to ask why does the South African government continue to promote those fossil energy sources that worsen climate change, and will undermine food security in Africa?”
Astron Energy spokesperson Suzanne Pullinger said there were a number of processes currently under way.
“The refinery forms a significant part of the Astron Energy business, and it remains our intention to safely restart by the end of Q4 this year. There are a number of processes currently under way. These processes all form part of the extensive restart process with a key focus on maximising safety for the restart and beyond,” Pullinger said.
Cape Times