{"id":833375,"date":"2025-07-29T11:18:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-29T09:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=833375"},"modified":"2025-07-29T11:18:28","modified_gmt":"2025-07-29T09:18:28","slug":"south-african-airports-could-run-out-of-fuel-in-two-months","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/833375\/south-african-airports-could-run-out-of-fuel-in-two-months\/","title":{"rendered":"South African airports could run out of fuel in two months"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With most local fuel refineries having shut down and airports being hamstrung by dated legislation to get alternative sources, South Africa could run out of jet fuel by October.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is according to Avhapfani Tshifularo, CEO of the South African Petroleum Association, who says the country’s aviation sector is on the brink of another fuel crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This could see major airports like OR Tambo International and others at risk of severe disruptions as it heads into the busy tourism season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In December 2024, OR Tambo, the country\u2019s busiest airport, experienced a fuel valve failure that caused widespread flight delays and cancellations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just a month later, a fire at the NATREF refinery\u2014one of the last operational refineries in the country\u2014led to a jet fuel shortage<\/a> that left the industry scrambling to secure reserves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Airports Company South Africa Group Executive for Operations, Terence Delamoney, told<\/a> the SABC at the time that these recurring shortages are part of a broader problem in the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He explained that while airports once had access to five refineries for fuel, only two remain functional: NATREF in Sasolburg and Astron in Cape Town.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result, airports are now heavily reliant on imported fuel. This is a major shift in the sector that Tshifularo argues the country’s fuel import regulatory environment is not equipped to handle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At a fuels industry forum in Johannesburg on 25 July, Tshifularo said<\/strong><\/a> the situation could worsen dramatically in the coming months.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NATREF is scheduled for planned maintenance between August and September, meaning its temporary shutdown will reduce the available domestic fuel supply.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf regulatory issues aren\u2019t resolved by October, we will be in serious trouble,\u201d Tshifularo warned, highlighting longstanding flaws in the 1964 Customs and Excise Act as a significant obstacle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Act was designed in an era when fuel refineries were central to product distribution, and it has not been updated to reflect the industry’s current state. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been lobbying the government, particularly National Treasury and SARS, for years. The Act was written with a model focused on the movement of product between refineries and depots, but the industry has changed,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regulatory roadblock<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Avhapfani Tshifularo, CEO of the South African Petroleum Association<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Under the current legislation, fuel exports can only be conducted from a refinery or manufacturing facility, not from depots. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This presents a significant challenge now that South Africa\u2019s major crude refineries have ceased operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jet fuel imports face similar challenges. The law prohibits the importation of jet fuel into an import terminal unless it passes through a refinery. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With no operational refineries in key regions such as Durban, this legal requirement is becoming a significant problem.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis was manageable when SAPREF and Natref refineries were operating in Durban, but now there\u2019s a serious complication,\u201d Tshifularo explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the dangerously low jet fuel levels at OR Tambo at the beginning of the year, the industry had to reroute supplies through Matola in Mozambique to avoid a crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, this was delayed by three weeks while SARS processed a special interim licence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although this measure helped avert a disaster, the licence was revoked once the situation stabilised, and SARS has indicated it will not issue similar emergency permissions again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tshifularo said that even if stockpiles are built before NATREF\u2019s upcoming shutdown, the numbers don\u2019t add up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

NATREF typically supplies 25 million litres of jet fuel to OR Tambo via pipeline, with another 10 million litres delivered using coastal pipelines. \u201cThat creates another risk,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the Treasury has acknowledged the issue and pledged to amend the Customs and Excise Act, Tshifularo cautioned that legislative changes will take too long to address the current crisis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not going to get this done in 18 months. In the meantime, we face urgent problems around product movement within South Africa and to neighbouring countries,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He called for interim regulatory measures and fast-tracked administrative interventions to allow jet fuel imports through terminals and exports from depots. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without these interventions, Tshifularo warned that the country could see a repeat of fuel emergencies across the whole of South Africa. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South Africa\u2019s major airports could run out of jet fuel by October if urgent steps are not taken to address outdated fuel regulations and declining refinery capacity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":833388,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[21384,853,23248],"class_list":["post-833375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-jet-fuel","tag-south-africa","tag-the-fuel-industry-association-of-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=833375"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833375\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":833397,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833375\/revisions\/833397"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/833388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=833375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=833375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=833375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}