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The Diversity of Gateways: Accra, Cape Town and Mauritius as Hinges in Oil and Gas GPNs

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Abstract

Research that stands in the tradition of the world city literature has made essential contributions to our understanding of ‘gateways’. Being logistics and transport hubs, sites of industrial processing, places of corporate control and service provision as well as locations of knowledge generation, gateways are an intermediate step between the periphery and the core of the world economy. They integrate peripheral places into global production networks. Yet, the state of the art insufficiently captures the functional diversity of gateways. This article makes a corresponding contribution. The author analyses how Accra, Cape Town and Mauritius interlink the African oil and gas sector globally. It is shown that corporate control of Ghana’s upstream sector concentrates in Accra, whereas logistics and upstream service provision happen in close proximity to oil and gas fields, in the town of Takoradi. Cape Town has established itself as a logistics and services gateway to sub-Saharan Africa. It also provides critical knowledge to overseas firms that seek to invest in the region. Mauritius pursues an ambitious strategy to become a logistics hub. It already serves as a gateway for financial and technical services. Against the backdrop of such diversity, the author furthermore calls the notion of gateways as sites of highly sophisticated service provision into question. His research ties up with policy recommendations made by the State of African Cities 2018 report and recent debates on generalisation in Urban Studies.

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Notes

  1. Being aware of important differences among global commodity chains, global value chains and GPNs, I use the term GPNs. The only reason for this is linguistic simplification.

  2. The oil and gas industry is usually divided into three sectors: upstream includes searching for oil and gas fields, drilling wells and operating them. Midstream is about transport, storage and wholesale marketing. Downstream comprises refining crude oil and purifying raw natural gas as well as marketing and distribution of products derived from oil and gas.

  3. Robinson (2002) first pointed out that striving to be a world city reflects the interests of a small segment of the economy and population of cities, in particular in countries marked by high socio-economic disparities. For empirical examples, see Murray (2011) as well as Parnell and Robinson (2006), among many others.

  4. Interview with an upstream service provider, Accra, 3 October 2017.

  5. Interviews with an upstream company, Accra, 14 October 2017, with a service provider, Accra, 18 October 2017, and with an oil major, Accra, 20 October 2017.

  6. Interviews with an upstream service provider, Accra, 3 October 2017, and with an oil major, Accra, 12 October 2017.

  7. Interview with a service provider, Takoradi, 11 October 2017.

  8. Interview with a service provider, Accra, 6 October 2017.

  9. Interview with an upstream service provider, Accra, 3 October 2017.

  10. Interview with an oil major, Accra, 12 October 2017.

  11. Interview with an oil major, Cape Town, 3 November 2017.

  12. Interviews with an oil major, Accra, 12 October 2017, and with two upstream service providers, Accra, 3 and 6 October 2017.

  13. Interview with an upstream service provider, Takoradi, 9 October 2017.

  14. Interview with an upstream service provider, Takoradi, 10 October 2017.

  15. Interview with an oil major, Cape Town, 11 August 2016.

  16. Interview with an upstream company, Cape Town, 11 August 2016.

  17. The complete list of service providers is available online at www.saoga.org.za/directory.

  18. Interview with SAOGA, Cape Town, 5 August 2016.

  19. This and further information is available online at www.saldanhaindustrial.co.za and www.sbidz.co.za.

  20. Interview with an oil major, Cape Town, 2 November 2017.

  21. Interview with an oil major, Cape Town, 3 November 2017.

  22. Interview with an upstream company, Cape Town, 2 November 2017.

  23. Interview with the MPA, Port Louis, 11 September 2017.

  24. Interview with the State Trading Corporation, Ebène, 13 September 2017.

  25. Interview with a service provider, Vacoas-Phoenix, 26 September 2017.

  26. Interview with an independent consultant, Ebène, 19 September 2017.

  27. A full list, including detailed information on these double-taxation-avoidance agreements, is available online at www.mra.mu/index.php/taxes-duties/double-taxation-agreements. For a complete list of the investment protection and promotion agreements, see www.investmauritius.com/downloads/ippa.aspx.

  28. Interview with an upstream service provider, Grand Baie, 18 September 2017.

  29. Interview at the University of Mauritius, Martindale, 14 September 2017.

  30. Interviews with the MPA, Port Louis, 11 September 2017, and with the State Trading Corporation, Ebène, 13 September 2017.

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  1. Institute of Economic and Cultural Geography, University of Hanover, Schneiderberg 50, 30167, Hanover, Germany

    Sören Scholvin

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Scholvin, S. The Diversity of Gateways: Accra, Cape Town and Mauritius as Hinges in Oil and Gas GPNs. Urban Forum 31, 61–76 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12132-019-09379-z

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