All the stops are being
pulled out to ensure the
Saldanha Bay Industrial
Development Zone (IDZ)
becomes Africa’s top oil and
gas services and marine
repair cluster.
Laura Peinke, executive of
the Saldanha Bay IDZ, told
members of the Exporters’
Club Western Cape (ECWC)
recently this was an
achievable goal but that the
country had a small window
of opportunity in which to
make it happen.
“We have strong
companies locally who can
add significant value in
servicing and repairs in the
oil and gas sector. South
African companies offer
high quality repair work,
equipment servicing and
logistics services. With the
right legislation and right
environment we have the
opportunity to become a
major player in this regard,
but the gap is now,” she said.
“It is not always going to be
there. This is an extremely
competitive environment.
With the Saldanha Bay
IDZ being the only sectorspecific
IDZ in the country
it allows us the ability to
focus our resources on
understanding the oil
and gas industry and its
challenges and developing
solutions to remove barriers
and address issues while
simultaneously having a
positive impact on regional
economic development and
job creation.”
Peinke said with relative
proximity to the West and
East African markets, the
IDZ was ideally located
to attract the growing
number of rigs servicing
the booming oil and gas
industry in Africa, but it
could even impact further.
“We have been doing a
lot of work for the Brazil
market that prefers to
bring its rigs here. So we
see rigs coming from the
Gulf of Mexico to South
Africa to be repaired before
going back. And this is
something we must take
into consideration as it costs
a sizeable amount of money
and the choice of port is
therefore important.”
Peinke said it was
estimated that it cost
around $500 000 a day
to have a rig in port for
repairs.
“It is a big decision for
these rig owners to then
decide to use South African
ports as opposed to heading
to Europe or the East for
their repairs.”
Peinke said major inroads
were being made in terms
of legislation to ensure
the smooth facilitation of
servicing rigs, with major
tax and customs benefits to
companies choosing South
Africa. “We are going to see
more development in South
Africa around the oil and
gas sector as it is a growing
industry where we can add
value and gain economic
benefit.”
INSERT & CAPTION (Photo: Halden Krog
We have strong
companies locally
who can add
significant value in
servicing and repairs
in the oil and gas
sector.
– Laura Peinke
