South Africa will grow even more dependent on imports for its fuel needs as the country’s refining sector faces an uncertain future, says Avhapfani Tshifularo, executive director of the South African Petroleum Industry Association (SAPIA).<\/p>\n
In an interview with S&P Global Platts<\/a><\/strong>, Tshifularo said all six of the country’s refineries are currently ‘under review’ and some of them “will have to make some very difficult decisions”.<\/p>\n The likely scenario will be to either “to convert a refinery into import or dispose (of) the refinery altogether” instead of an expensive upgrade program, he said.<\/p>\n Tshifularo said that Eskom’s load shedding in 2020 means the country is already in “import mode”, and along with environmental and regulatory pressures, imports are becoming increasingly attractive to meet demand for higher quality fuels, compared to home production.<\/p>\n “Without any financial support they are not going to invest in an upgrade. The world has moved on now,” he said. “If there is any investment, it will be very minimal, and will be done just to stay in the game.”<\/p>\n It could be 75% cheaper to convert a refinery into an import facility than to upgrade it, Tshifularo added.<\/p>\n Almost half of South Africa\u2019s oil refining seen shut until 2022<\/strong><\/p>\n South African plants owned by Glencore Plc and Petroliam Nasional Bhd that make up 43% of the nation\u2019s oil-refining capacity are expected to stay shut until at least 2022, according to energy consultant Citac.<\/p>\n