Page 18 - SAPREF 50 year

In 1960, the site where the refinery now stands was part sugarcane field, part swamp.
The original farm of Isipingo was granted to Dick King (renowned for his famous ride on horseback from Durban to Grahamstown) by the Government of Natal, and it consisted of nearly 6000 acres between the Umlaas and Umbogintwini Rivers. Farmers started planting sugar cane in 1852.
Lynn Schroder, A History of Isipingo Beach with special reference to the Group Areas Act of 1963.
A closer view of the Integrated Unit, probably on 21 June 1963.
In the beginning ...
South African Petroleum Refineries (Pty) Limited (SAPREF) came into being in January 1960. Shares in the company were equally held by BP, London, and Shell Petroleum Company, London, but in May 1962 the name was changed to Shell and BP South African Petroleum Refineries (Pty) Limited in order to identify it more closely with its parent companies.
Within three years the site, now part of Prospecton, Durban, was transformed into one of the largest refineries south of the Sahara and one of the most advanced in the world, at a cost of approximately R32million.
Beginning on 4 November 1960, the first major operation was to eliminate the swamp and raise the ground level about two metres, to four metres above sea level. A section of
the Bluff that was protruding onto the site was sluiced with high-pressure water jets, and two million cubic metres of sand was spread over the site. A canal was repositioned, a new access road constructed, and two bridges built over the Umlaas canal on the north side. Six 22 000-tonne tanks with floating roofs were built at Island View to receive imported crude oil, and four pipelines to the refinery, about 13km away, were laid.
The main South African construction sub- contractors were Fraser & Chalmers, Grinaker, RJ Southey and Consani’s Engineering. Nearly 70% of the material they used was obtained from South African sources and included about 11 000 cubic metres of concrete and 14 000 tons of steel.
Meanwhile, 14 technologists and engineers had been recruited and sent to Europe for
SAPREF: FUELLING SA FOR 50 YEARS
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