Stephan Burger, Vice President
MOGS Oil & Gas Services
In this Op-Ed piece MOGS Vice President Stephan Burger speaks to the theme of Africa Oil and Power – the continent’s premier platform for energy investment. AOP’s theme #MakeEnergyWork will showcase the energy sector as a key driver of economic growth, jobs and opportunity for Africa’s people and private sectors.
MOGS Oil & Gas Services (MOGS) is a Pan-African operator, investor and developer of oil and gas midstream infrastructure across the African continent. The company develops and operates fuel import terminals, storage and blending facilities.
A subsidiary of African investment company Royal Bafokeng Holdings, MOGS is a majority partner in the South Africa-based energy infrastructure company, Sunrise Energy, which is responsible for Africa’s largest open-access Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) import terminal.
On the African continent, MOGS has a presence within the West, East and Southern African regions as a capital and technical partner to Governments and the private sector. Its operations are based in Tema, Ghana; Maputo, Mozambique; and Saldanhna, South Africa.
Through its open-access terminals, MOGS owns, operates and maintains oil and gas infrastructure, but it does not trade in any of these commodities. The company handles fuel products on a tariff basis in line with the country’s regulator, aiming to facilitate upstream and downstream access to the market.
As global markets move towards increased competition in the energy sectors, the MOGS Oil & Gas approach is expected to boost access to LPG and other fuels. This approach also promises to ensure continuous maintenance of infrastructure through companies owned and operated by MOGS.
The Sunrise Energy LPG import and storage facility is accessible to all third-party LPG importers, distributors and bulk consumers. Located in Saldanha Bay in the Western Cape province of South Africa, the facility enables the import of LPG in large quantities, boosting regional energy security and increasing downstream competition.
In recent years, the Western Cape Province has been experiencing shortages amounting to half its monthly 11,000 metric ton peak demand for LPG. With a capacity of 200,000 metric tons of LPG per annum, the new terminal is anticipated to meet the shortfall.
In addition to the Sunrise Energy terminal, Oiltanking MOGS Saldanha – a joint venture company created by MOGS and tank storage logistics company, Oiltanking GmbH – reached final investment decision for its crude oil blending storage terminal in Saldanha Bay in February 2017. The 12-tank project with a 1.1-million-barrel capacity per tank is expected to be completed and operational by the third quarter of 2019.
The facility’s oil tanks are interlinked, with blending nozzles and equipment in each tank allowing for efficient on-site blending of different crude oils. The OTMS facility, which is strategically located near an existing crude oil jetty and pipeline, provides access to valuable foreign exchange through storing and blending and transshipping crude oil for bulk building and for balancing production and offtake.
As South Africa works towards establishing a stable and sustainable energy mix, and developing a globally competitive energy sector, the projects at Saldanha Bay will serve to change the perception of South African design and technology.
With a long-term vision of investing in midstream infrastructure to boost capacity, MOGS will develop operating capabilities in different countries in a range of fields, including storage, pipelines, natural gas and LPG. Having established itself in South Africa, MOGS hopes to create more opportunities to develop the sector and contribute to the governments’ ambition of implementing a more sustainable energy mix.
**Africa Oil & Power (AOP) – the continents premier platform for energy investment and policy is holding a conference and exhibition from October 9 – 11 at CTICC 1 in Cape Town.
