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The unrest caused supply chain disruptions. margins, and placing the Engen refinery in
This led to fears of fuel supply shortages, as the financial distress.”
refinery accounts for around 35% of South Afri- He added that refitting the plant which
ca’s fuel supply. Sapref’s shutdown left Sasol’s opened in 1954, making it South Africa’s old-
160,000 bpd Secunda coal-to-liquids (CTL) est, to meet emissions regulations would be too
plant and the 107,000 bpd National Petroleum costly. “Furthermore, unaffordable capital costs
Refiners of SA (Natref) unit in Sasolburg as the to meet future CF2 [equivalent to Euro 5] regu-
country’s only functional units. Sapref produces lations compliance continues to be a challenge
gasoline, diesel, marine fuel, bitumen, base oils for the long-term sustainability of the refinery,”
and paraffin waxes. he said.
On July 20, Sapref said it would restart the The refinery was shut completely following
plant the following day, with start-up likely a fire on December 4 last year and Engen has
to take 7-10 days to complete. It said: “With previously said it remained “fully committed
key delivery routes open and materials supply to operating the Engen refinery in a safe and
secured, Sapref can now restart the refinery.” reliable manner,” though it added it was “con-
Meanwhile, the government-owned ports sidering several options.” Turnaround mainte-
operator Transnet National Ports Authority nance (TAM) was carried out during a 45-day
reported this week that normal operations had programme in February 2018.
resumed at the ports of Durban and Richards The plant’s product range includes automo-
Bay. tive, industrial, aviation and marine fuels, bitu-
In April, Engen Petroleum, a subsidiary of men, lubricants, chemicals and solvents, and
Malaysia’s state-owned Petronas, announced it until its closure it provided around 17% of South
would convert its 120,000 bpd refinery, also in Africa’s refined products. ™
Durban, into an import terminal following years
of losses and a fire in December, following which
it has not resumed operations.
The company’s CEO Yusa Hassan said that
the decision had been taken following an “exten-
sive strategic evaluation,” with the fuel terminal
expected to be commissioned in the third quar-
ter of 2023 and limited refining operations car-
rying on in the meantime.
Hassan said: “The conclusion of the strategic
assessment is that the Engen refinery is unsus-
tainable in the longer term. This is primarily
due to the challenging refining environment as
a result of a global product supply surplus and
depressed demand, resulting in low refining The refinery produces about 35% of South Africa’s fuel supplies (Photo: Sapref)

Sirius Petroleum, Baker Hughes sign

MoU on drilling work at Abura oilfield

NIGERIA SIRIUS Petroleum (UK) said earlier this week programme within the framework of its legal
that it had signed a memorandum of under- agreements with CMES-OMS Petroleum
standing (MoU) with Baker Hughes (US) on Development Co. (COPDC), a Nigerian joint
services related to a nine-well drilling pro- venture that has concluded a financial and tech-
gramme at OML 65, an onshore block in the nical services agreement (FTSA) with Nigerian
western Niger River Delta in Nigeria. Petroleum Development Co. (NPDC) for the
In a statement, the Africa-focused company extraction of oil from OML 65.
said that the MoU identified Baker Hughes as The FTSA includes the AWP, which is a plan
its approved provider of drilling and related for the development of the block in three phases,
services for Phase 1 of its approved work pro- and Sirius has signed an agreement with the
gramme (AWP) at OML 65. It did not reveal joint venture “to provide funding and technical
the projected value of the deal but said that the services toward the execution of the AWP,” the
parties would work together “under a mutually statement said.
agreed pricing structure.” Phase 1 of the plan envisions the redevelop-
Sirius said it was teaming up with the oil- ment of Abura, an oilfield within the OML 65
field services company to execute the drilling licence area.

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