Transnet Limited of Johannesburg, the owner and operator of South Africa’s strategic petroleum and gas pipeline infrastructure, has selected GE Oil & Gas to supply electric motor-driven pump packages for a new multi-product pipeline.
The new pipeline will stretch 559km from Durban harbour to Johannesburg and will supply diesel, petrol and jet fuel for inland markets that currently have limited refining capacity.
GE has said that in order to meet South Africa’s immediate demands this will be a fast-track project. Commissioning of the first sections of the pipeline is scheduled to begin in mid 2010.
“The new multi-product pipeline project will increase both the capacity and flexibility of Transnet’s existing pipeline network to the Gauteng Province. By investing in this asset, will ensure the security of critical energy supplies (in the form of refined petroleum products) to the Gauteng Province,” said Carlos Galego, NMPP project director of Transnet.
GE Oil & Gas will supply 19 pumps with variable frequency drives, chillers and lube oil systems to be installed at five stations along the route of the pipeline. GE will utilize a consolidated high efficiency pump design to maximize reliability. In addition, only two types of hydraulic systems will be used for the 19 pumps, for greater interchangeability of spare parts.
This will be the largest project in South Africa to date for GE Oil and Gas.
“We were able to secure this contract by committing to meet the project’s key challenges: tight delivery deadlines, energy efficiency and cost constraints,” said Daniele Scenarelli, GE Oil & Gas executive for Sub Saharan Africa, based in Cape Town.
Transnet Pipelines, the pipeline operating division of Transnet Limited, owns and operates 3,000 kilometers of strategic petroleum and gas pipelines in South Africa, traversing five provinces. Pipelines play an important role in ensuring the secure supply of refined petroleum products to the inland industrial hub of South Africa, which has limited refining capacity.
