Afrox confident of gas market

AFROX is confident that the Eastern Cape gas market will grow over the next two to three years.

Commissioning its R300-million air separation unit (ASU) in the Coega Industrial Development Zone (IDZ) yesterday, Afrox managing director Brett Kimber said with the huge expansions planned for the province, the market for the various gases produced in Port Elizabeth was expected to grow.

While Afrox's first gas will flow from the ASU early next year, Air Products announced last week that its own nearby ASU had come online earlier this month.

Spoilt for choice, some Coega investors, like FAW, have made use of both companies to supply their gas needs, as the ASUs are located a stone's throw from each other within the same sector of the IDZ.

Kimber admitted that although it would be a challenge over the next two to three years to compete for the market in this region, this would be temporary, thanks to the huge growth on the cards for Nelson Mandela Bay and the Eastern Cape.

This included expansion in the automotive sector, new hospitals being built and the Kalagadi ferromanganese smelter to be constructed in the IDZ. He said the ASU would also help with the growth of the export industry.

Kimber said the newly built Afrox plant would also be able to better serve the company's strong footprint of Eastern Cape customers needing welding and LPG gases, which would be stored at the new Port Elizabeth facility.

"The localised ASU is a big advantage as we will not have to truck gas in from Johannesburg or Cape Town for our Eastern Cape customers.

"The country and our customers are facing economic challenges but we can face them together with strong partnerships," Kimber said during the commissioning ceremony yesterday.

He said Afrox had also included proactive planning for potential power supply interruptions in the Bay, with a 15-day storage facility.

Yesterday's commissioning was ahead of schedule. Kimber said the speedy construction of the German- engineered cold box which produces the different gases had been done in record time, serving as the tallest landmark on site to help attract additional investment to Coega.

Coega Development Corporation business development executive manager Chris Mashigo said the IDZ was getting the mix of investors right.

While the Air Products plant has a production capacity of 110 tons a day of liquid oxygen and nitrogen, the Afrox plant is expected to produce 150 tons a day of oxygen, nitrogen and argon. - Cindy Preller