Sasol recently awarded Speedcast Mozambique with a new three-year contract (including three 1-year extension options) to provide onsite ICT support services at four of its Oil and Gas Exploration and Well delivery campus operations in-country.

Through this contract, estimated to be US$4-million in value, Speedcast will deliver a wide range of fully-managed telecommunication services to Sasol Mozambique's four base camps housing crew working on Exploration and Well delivery projects in-country.

According to a statement issued by Sasol, the ICT solution is set up to account for potential harsh weather with C-band Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) connectivity as well as terrestrial fibre optic backhaul, satellite phones and a terrestrial radio infrastructure including mobile data backup and portable radio over IP using Inmarsat BGAN.

"Value-added solutions include internal and external voice services, Wi-Fi and crew welfare communications to each site. Speedcast will provide 24/7 onsite IT support managing internet, firewalls, document storage, printing, Voice Over IP (VoIP) and teleconferencing," reads an excerpt from the statement.

Ovidio Rodolfo, Managing Director for Sasol in Mozambique says: "Sasol is using technology to bring about administrative efficiency in an effort to enhance and secure its Information and Communication Technology systems while supporting the local content strategy by using local service providers. Local Content as an integral part of Sasol's Corporate Strategy and recognises the importance of the development of a local workforce and local suppliers in the regions where it operates."

According to Sasol, the value-added local content strategy is driven by both in-country legal requirements and Speedcast's initiatives. It said that Speedcast recently won a telecommunications contract in the northern section of the country and is familiar with the more populated southern portion of the country where Maputo is located.

It listed several contractual obligations including that local supplies and subcontracts should be supplied by local companies and local personnel, as local capacity is currently able to meet requirements. Supplier subcontracts issued by Speedcast will include hiring of in-country personnel and procurement of local contracts for goods and services as needed.

"Speedcast will provide on-site training through internet-based classroom training. The most sustainable value local content initiative SpeedCast can undertake is creating an in-country school for field service engineering support and associated telecommunications support. On contract award, Speedcast will work to E&PI's requirements, however after further discussion it can also launch the initial training classes for the Sasol Petroleum project," Sasol adds

Rodolfo says: "Through this contract Sasol is looking for various techniques and methods of addressing connectivity challenges.It is essential for Sasol to facilitate business transformation, to ensure that our operation systems including our employees are well-equipped and ready for the digital world."

Speedcast's EVP of energy, Keith Johnson says: "Sasol has made a large investment with exploration in Mozambique, and we are proud to be the provider selected to support their critical operations and IT services in-country."