Cape vies for Africa's oilfield business

Ray Smuts
ESTABLISHING CAPE Town as the main oil and gas centre in Africa is the mission of a high-powered 21-member Mother City delegation which flew to the United States recently to attend the Off-shore Technology Convention in Houston, Texas.
This follows the commissioning of a report in which the numerous opportunities for potential trade are identified.
Author and oil expert David Piper points out that every single item has to be imported into those West African countries where oil and gas exploration have become mega-business.
Given the will, the Western Cape has the capacity to supply many of those imports at highly competitive prices but the reality is many engineering companies first have to attain ISO9000 status.
The West African oilfields, expected to surpass those in the North Sea, are attracting huge investments.
In Angola, where one million
barrels of oil are being pumped a day, expectations are that it will match Saudi Arabia's volumes within five years, hence investment of R420 billion in the next few years. The cement used in the preparation of boreholes on the Angolan coastline exceeds South Africa's total requirement.
It seems hardly a month goes by without new discoveries, Nigeria being a case in point where investment of around R400 billion has already been made.
In South Africa's favour is the fact that it enjoys the best economic policies yet and has the ability to produce virtually any product, as the vehicle industry demonstrated last year with exports totalling R28,5 billion - not far off the value of the country's gold exports.
Cape Town's awareness of the many possibilities was sparked last year by Brian Bain, m.d. of Globe Engineering, when he alerted the then Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry to the formation of the United Kingdom West African Action Group, aimed at taking advantage of the growing opportunities in the oil and gas sector in West Africa.
The Texas team, which includes Bain, is headed by the Chamber's deputy director Colin Boyes who has a vision that great things are possible for Cape Town as it has all the right credentials - modern port facilities, excellent communications and transport, a skilled labour force, engineering skills and a range of sophisticated companies.
Boyes points out that even if a small volume of business can be attracted it will have a significant impact on the Western Cape economy and on job creation.