Will the latest Sasol outage result in a shortage of petrol or diesel?
After Sasol closed Natref in Sasolburg due to delays in the arrival of crude oil shipments at the Durban port, all South African refineries are now offline.
According to Fin24, the company declared a force majeure and stated that it will be unable to supply petroleum products. The company refines oil to make petrol and diesel.
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At this time, a Sasol spokesperson told Fin24 that no supply shortages are expected at fuel stations, including its own.
The delays, according to the company, were beyond its control and had impacted the availability of crude oil feedstock for processing at Natref, resulting in the refinery’s closure.
The Energy Department has also confirmed that the country’s supply of petrol and diesel will not run out. The department’s deputy director-general of mineral and petroleum regulation, Tseliso Maqubela: “I don’t expect that diesel and petrol would be affected greatly, however, we are concerned about the impact this is going to have on the availability of jet fuel, particularly for the airports.”
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Maqubela said that officials would assess the impact of the move and how long it would take to recover this week. “There is the ability to import fuel in the country. We’ve always planned for such an eventuality but I think the impact on jet fuel because this was something that was not expected and is something we’re going to have to look at,” Maqubela said.
