Central Energy Fund processes to be reviewed

Thursday, July 28, 2016

Pretoria - Energy Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson has requested a review of the Central Energy Fund (CEF) governance processes.

In a statement on Wednesday, Minister Joemat-Pettersson said she had held talks with the boards of CEF Group of Companies on 14 July 2016.

“The Minister also raised specific concerns around the Strategic Fuel Fund (SFF) and directed that a thorough review be conducted of SFF contracts from the 2014/15 financial year to date,” said the Department of Energy.

The review comes as a result of the meeting which included the boards of Petroleum Oil and Gas Corporation of SA (PetroSA), the Strategic Fuel Fund Association (SFF), iGas, the Petroleum Agency SA (PASA) and African Exploration Mining and Finance Corporation (AEMFC).

The department said the review will include all contracts and transactions entered into in terms of the Ministerial Directive issued to the SFF, inclusive of the Strategic Stock Rotation and Storage and Leasing Agreements concluded.

“This process will establish whether the transactions were implemented in accordance with the conditions as set out in Ministerial Directive, and whether these followed due process and were above board,” said the department.

The Minister said any lapse in governance processes or irregular actions will be further investigated.

Recently the department expressed concern at the SFF expressing interest to purchase Chevron assets.

At the time, the department’s Director General Thabane Zulu said the state entity’s interest to purchase the Chevron assets (which include an oil refinery) showed complete disregard for governance processes.

At the meeting, Minister Joemat-Pettersson welcomed and agreed to the request of the CEF board to appoint the Department of Energy’s Deputy Director General responsible for Petroleum Regulation, Tseliso Maqubela, to the position of interim chairperson of the SFF board until a new chairperson is appointed.  – SAnews.gov.za