Question NW2820 to the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy
27 November 2020 - NW2820
Mileham, Mr K to ask the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy
(1) For each storage facility owned, leased and/or operated by the Strategic Fuel Fund, (a) on what date was the last (i) maintenance and (ii) refurbishment undertaken on the storage tanks and (b) what was the cost of such maintenance and/or refurbishment in each case; (2) (a) on what date was each specified facility last audited for environmental compliance and (b) what were the findings of the last environmental audit in each case; (3) whether there are any indications of seepage into the ground and/or the groundwater table; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the relevant details of the seepage?
Reply:
1. Saldanha Terminal
(1) For each storage facility owned, leased and/or operated by the Strategic Fuel Fund, (a) on what date was the last (i) maintenance and (ii) refurbishment undertaken on the storage tanks and (b) what was the cost of such maintenance and/or refurbishment in each case;
- Saldanha Terminal is made of Concrete Underground Closed tanks which do not require maintenance or refurbishments on the Saldanha tanks. There are however scheduled inspections to test the tanks structure and roof supports. In all inspections done to date there were NO abnormalities that were detected. This include the tank settlement test that was done in 2016, where no discernible changes since commissioning were observed.
(2) (a) on what date was each specified facility last audited for environmental compliance and (b) what were the findings of the last environmental audit in each case;
(a) The last full recertification Audit was conducted by SABS on ISO14001 2015 on the 10TH to the 13TH March 2020
(b) One “minor” finding was issued and cleared by SFF Saldanha and we have thus been recertified under the new ISO 140001 2015 StandardCertificate}.
(3) whether there are any indications of seepage into the ground and/or the groundwater table; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are
the relevant details of the seepage?
A “Ground water sampling” exercise is done bi-annually and the last one was done in May 2019 and there is no seepage detected to date.
2. Milnerton Terminal
1. For each storage facility owned, leased and/or operated by the Strategic Fuel Fund;
a) on what date was the last Maintenance:
(i) Maintenance of the SFF Milnerton tank farm is an on-going exercise based on a schedule created as per the operating and manufacturers specification of a particular equipment. These schedules are distributed from the Maintenance planner’s office to the relevant staff (electrical or mechanical). Another form of maintenance is “adhoc” as and when a breakdown occurs it is attended to.
(ii) 1999 - 2002
- During this period 11 tanks were refurbished.
b) For each storage facility owned, leased and/or operated by the Strategic Fuel Fund, what was the cost of such maintenance and/or refurbishment in each case:
- SFF paid market related costs as obtained following its approved tender process.
2. On what date was each specified facility last audited for environmental compliance:
a) An “Environmental Legal Compliance Audit” is conducted bi-annually and the last audit was done in June 2019.
b) The results of these audit was 2 minor findings that were closed-off and terminal received certification.
3. Whether there are any indications of seepage into the ground and/or the groundwater table; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the relevant details of the seepage?
- A “Ground water sampling” exercise is done bi-annually and the last one was done in December 2019 and there is no seepage detected to date,