Curiouser still, the pipeline saga continues

HOW odd that the Iran Daily should be more informed about the pipeline saga than our own esteemed local organs. The July 21 edition carried a well informed (or well briefed?) piece which seemed to know things that could only have come from a very informed source in South Africa -- could this be the wonderfully named Ipayipi Consortium, Spigot wonders? Speaking of which, on reading their application to the national energy regulator ( Nersa) the fog covering exactly who the consortium is, lifts a little. Why, the chief executive officer is non other than one Deyer Natha, a South African of Indian extraction who once served as a director of BP Southern Africa (Pty) Limited. The other directors of the Ipayipi Consortium are Clifford Elk, who used to be the CEO of the Mineworkers Investment Company (the investment arm of the National Union of Mineworkers) and in that capacity sat on the BPSA board (MIC has shares in BPSA); Riaz Jawoodien, whose meteoric rise from political activist to oil industry expert has been a feature of the last ten years; and one Enver Asmal. Not exactly the "usual suspects" as Spigot once thought, but there you are. Will this group of worthies get a pipeline off or in the ground faster than Petronet? Watch this space.