Page 4 - AfrOil Week 10 2023

AfrOil COMMENTARY AfrOil

(Photo: Sapref)

KwaZulu-Natal in talks

about Sapref’s future

Re-opening the 180,000 bpd plant would help the country cover fuel demand

SOUTH Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal provincial the most preferred,” they said. “Until decisions
government has announced it is discussing the about the future of the plant have been made –
WHAT: future of the Sapref refinery with the Depart- including a possible change of ownership – the
Talks on re-starting ment of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) Sapref shareholders are unable to commit to fur-
Sapref are ongoing, with and operators Shell and BP. The 180,000 barrel ther investment in the refinery.”
the regional government per day (bpd) plant, located near Durban, has
looking to secure jobs been closed for almost a year. In the middle
and industrial output.
Sapref is one of several South African refin- KwaZulu-Natal’s premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube
WHY: ing assets that have gone out of service in recent said last week that the government is “facilitat-
ing a meeting with the shareholders to come to
years, seriously hampering the country’s ability
Following mass shut-
downs, South Africa’s do- to meet domestic fuel demand and leading to some conclusion on the plan to resuscitate or
mestic refining industry price spikes on the local market. explore options on what is required to bring the
all but collapsed. facility back to operations as per our previous
Closure commitments.”
WHAT NEXT: Sapref was closed in March last year, follow- Official involvement in the plant’s future has
There is room for hope, ing an earlier announcement by BP and Shell been mooted since late 2021, and just days after
though, as work contin- in which the companies said they could not its closure, two sources at the Central Energy
ues to rehabilitate other commit to any further expenditures until Fund (CEF), which manages South Africa’s
previously decommis- they decided on the fate of the plant, operated energy assets, told Bloomberg that the fund was
sioned refineries. through a joint venture. assessing options for buying the Sapref unit.
“The decision has been taken to allow an The sources noted that they could leverage
informed finalisation on the various options green financing to carry out upgrades to meet
available to the shareholders, a sale option being new clean fuel regulations.

P4 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 10 09•March•2023