South Africa's $3 Billion Durban-Gauteng Multi-Product Pipeline in Operation

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Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--A new multi-product pipeline has begun the first phase of operation between South Africa's Indian Ocean port city of Durban and Jameson Park, which is near Heidelberg and just south of the county's commercial and industrial capital Johannesburg in Gauteng province.

The 700-kilometer, 24-inch-diameter pipeline will be commissioned in phases over the next 18 months and is currently delivering diesel fuel. It will work in parallel with the old Durban-Johannesburg pipeline, which was commissioned in 1965 and is scheduled to be phased out. Terminal 1 at Island View in Durban and Terminal 2 at Jameson Park are scheduled for completion in 2013.

Initially, the new pipeline will operate at a capacity of 500,000 liters per hour and transport only diesel. When fully operational, the pipeline will transport refined fuel products, including unleaded 93- and 95-octane petrol, ultra-low-sulfur diesel, and jet fuel at a rate of about 3 million liters an hour. The annual capacity of the 700-kilometer pipeline will be 26.7 billion liters of fuel.

The project was designed to allow upgrades in five phases through 2032, with the addition of pumping stations and metering stations along the line. Capacity could be expanded up to 200% to keep up with demand growth. Currently, three pumping stations and tow metering stations are in operation.

Brian Molefe, the CEO of national transport utility Transnet (Johannesburg), said, "We have completed one of the most cutting-edge and innovative infrastructure investments in the world. Transnet is fulfilling two commitments by ensuring that the inland market demand for fuel is met, and to ease road congestion by reducing the number of fuel tankers on our roads."

Molefe said that the project investment of slightly less than $3 billon would need to be recovered, and in addition to last year's pipeline tariff increase of 59.9% Transnet had already applied to the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) for a further 22% increase. An initial estimate of project investment in 2006 was $1.2 billion.

The pipeline distribution network in Gauteng has also been upgraded in conjunction with the trunk pipeline. A 16-inch pipe network links fuel depots between Kendal and Watloo, Jameson Park and Alrode, and Alrode to Laanglaagte, covering supply points for the heavy industrial and commercial areas.

During construction, innovative technology was used to prime the completed, but empty pipeline. Nitrogen was used to counter back pressure on the steep gradient, where the pipeline negotiates Van Reenen's pass on the edge of the Highveld escarpment. The nitrogen was dried at negative 20 degrees Celsius to ensure that no water or other liquids that could lead to contamination were present in the pipe.

The pipeline is constructed from highest-grade steel and was laid in 1.5-meter-deep trenches along most of the route, except where it crossed existing infrastructure and rivers, as well as a number of ecologically sensitive wetlands.

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