THE FPSO - A MODERN OFFSHORE WONDER

AN INTERVIEW with parliament's speaker resonated with many.

- BRIAN INGPEN

The lady embodies a gracious presence, and having booted some errant MPs from the House, perhaps she will be a good candidate for the presidency when that time comes.

For that position, she and perhaps Mcebisi Jonas outpace three most unsuitable politicians currently jockeying for favour: the current crown prince, a certain loquacious secretary-general, or the sonorous-voiced premier of Gauteng.

We need positive, visionary leaders who, shrugging off irritating political mosquitoes, tackle major issues head-on and with aplomb. Such an issue is the country’s fuel supply, currently dominated by Middle Eastern producers whose prices plus shipping costs add to South Africans’ financial woes. Developments elsewhere — including in Namibia and Mozambique - underline the need for South Africa to establish whether viable oil and gas reserves exist off our coast, and if such fields are discovered, oil or gas production should begin as soon as possible. Encouraging are the prospecting operations off the west coast in the hope that the offshore oilfield off southern Namibia extends into South Africa.

Oil and gas action is occurring across the world. A month ago, Bacalhau, a 370m floating storage, production, and offloading vessel (FPSO), arrived in Brazil to operate on one of that country’s offshore oilfields. This huge vessel was built in Japan with outfitting completed in Singapore.