South Africa commissions first platform shipyard

South Africa’s first shipyard to construct oil and gas production platforms was opened earlier this week, providing a foothold for the country to take advantage of a booming oil sector in Angola and other West African countries.

South Africa is hoping the 200 million rand plant, part of a 1.7 billion rand investment by Germany-based MAN Ferrostaal AG, will act as a service hub for Africa’s burgeoning oil industry. ???This fabrication centre will hopefully fulfill the demand for offshore exploration and production infrastructure,?? Brian Blackbeard, managing director for FerroMarine Africa, the local developer of the facility, said.

???The international market is over-subscribed and this facility, which is geographically ideally located in South Africa, will be able to satisfy equipment requirements for the west African oil and gas fields,?? Blackbeard said. The facility in Saldanha, about 100 km (62 miles) north of Cape Town, will manufacture components, such as bridges, decks and hulls for offshore oil platforms, largely to service fields in Angola and Nigeria.

Saldanha is South Africa’s largest and deepest natural port, and will have the capacity to build complete oil platforms weighing up to 5,000 tonnes. Matthias Mitscherlich, chairman of the executive board of MAN Ferrostaal AG, said volatility in the Middle East was raising concerns about the security of oil supplies, fuelling the development of new offshore fields and placing a huge demand on fabrication yards around the world.

Blackbeard added that plans were at an advanced stage to construct a service and repair hub, estimated to cost 100 million rand, at Cape Town harbour. This hub would support the offshore oil and gas fleet, allowing rigs to be towed to Cape Town for inspections, maintenance and refurbishment. ???After signing the lease for the facility, the construction will commence, hopefully next month, and be completed within 10 months,?? Blackbeard said.