South Africa’s liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) market is expected to boom due to the need for new distribution centres, rising electricity prices and a switch to carbon dioxide and paraffin spur furnaces, industry leaders say.
State-owned power company Eskom plans to increase electricity prices by 36% next year, a spectacular increase that has sparked anger and outrage across utilities.
Last month, LPG operator Petredec announced plans to build South Africa’s first railway to supply LPG. According to data from the Argus Global Statistics Review, oil consumption has risen to 500 million tonnes this year from 425,000 tonnes last year.
He said new plans for new storage facilities in Ghana and Tanzania could follow South Africa’s rapid growth in LPG. Many African countries are trying to end the use of crude cooking oils, such as charcoal, which is used to smoke when wood is available, causing deforestation by cutting it down.
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North Africa uses about 15.6 million tonnes of LPG annually, around two-thirds of the country’s total. Personal consumption is around 45 kilograms per person per year, nine times more than in sub-Saharan Africa, the WLGA says.
As millions of South Africans struggle to survive on social security benefits or temporary jobs, technology company PayGas is attracting the attention of telecom companies and focusing on mass marketing with a pay-as-you-go model.
Inside a mall in the working-class Cape Town suburb of Mitchell’s Plain, customers line up to collect gas at a PayGas stall in partnership with Shoprite, one of four sites the retailer says it has. PayGas also operates in Zambia and Nigeria
