CONSULTANTS JUST LOVE US

CONSULTANTS just love South Africa. We have been such a goldmine since 1994. Every time one of our politicians or newly-appointed civil servants gets an idea, the consultants move in to see if it is viable, raking in hefty fees all the while. PetroSA is the latest money tree. Having announced last week to Parliament that it intends building a massive new oil refinery at Coega in the Eastern Cape (remaining remarkably coy about where the money is going to come from) PetroSA yesterday had a signing ceremony in Cape Town to announce the awarding of a (wait for it) "pre-feasibility study" to Kellogg Brown & Root. Only after this is completed will there be a feasibility study… Meanwhile, some suitably previously disadvantaged persons will have a pleasant time at company expense in KBR's offices in Houston, USA. So once the pre-feasibility study is done and the feasibility study that follows it is complete, there just might be something with which to attract investors. Oh, I forgot. Venezuela is going to invest...

Eskom inches closer to building a new power station

Eskom has signed the much-anticipated boiler and turbine contracts for a R78,6-billion Medupi coal-fired power station in Limpopo Province. It will be the first to be built in South Africa in more than 20 years. For some reason best know to the spin doctors, the names of the successful bidders have not been revealed. But Spigot cheers anyway for news of something concrete happening on the energy front.

At last, a hard fact on Coega

THIS is an important day in the continuing saga of who is going to build a new crude oil refinery in this country. Why? Because the PetroSA spokesman let slip in Business Report this morning that the main difference between Drako Oil's plans for a refinery in Richards Bay and the PetroSA plan for one in Coega is that " We have R11 billion in cash in the bank." Ho,ho! Now are we poor taxpayers to imagine that all this R11 billion is earmarked for the Coega thingummy? If so, where is the rest of the R34 billion coming from? Still, reference to actual money-- and in a bank, at that -- is welcome amidst the swirls of hot air circulating around the matter. Spigot hopes the spokesman didn't "mispeak" as the Americans would say.

Good heavens, court documents have been found

THE power of the Press might yet save us all. Out of the chaos of the Johannesburg Court system has emerged the "lost" docket with details of the PetroSA case against Imvume. Spigot readers will recall that PetroSA lent Imvume some R18 million to buy crude ( some sweetheart deal that!) but oh dear, Imvume didn't buy crude at all and some say they gave a huge chunk of it to the ANC. Anyway, PetroSA says they have recovered some of it but are suing for the balance plus interest. Now, if the Press had not told the story of the missing docket, would it have been found so swiftly -- if at all? Makes you think.

So, you have R39 billion to invest in SA?

"I think, therefore I am," used to be a good description of the human condition. Not any more. South African parastatal managers now appear to have replaced it with," I speak, therefore I think I am." How else does one interpret the latest verbal ballet around plans for a refinery at Coega? Vague references to Venezuelans apart, who the hell is going to invest R39 billion in a) The Eastern Cape, a province known to be the most inefficiently and corruptly run in South Africa? b) in South Africa, a country whose next president might be an African chief with four wives who makes a habit of dancing on public platforms while calling for his machine gun?

Answer: Not many. And they are all dead.

THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS WRONG

HAS anyone else noticed how Eskom is subtly shifting the blame for its appalling lack of planning in the last ten years onto the shoulders of the consumer? It's not Eskom's fault that there are power outrages, it's the consumer's fault for using too much electricity. Neat, isn't it?

NICE ONE, BUYELWA!

SOMETIMES it is a good idea to keep your mouth shut. Spigot nearly missed a beautiful example of this when Minerals and Energy Minister, Buyelwa Sonjica, publicly warned that sabotage to the single-buoy mooring (SBM) off Durban would bring imports of refined products to a halt. Of course, there is a chance that this was an example of misreporting, but the facts are that the statement is wrong on two counts. Firstly, the SBM is used exclusively for crude oil, not refined products. Secondly, trumpeting the vulnerability of the SBM to sabotage, seems somewhat foolish in this modern world. Isn't there still something called the Key Points Act on the statute book?