“It [Sasol] uses coal as an input, whereas all the other facilities use crude oil, which is imported. At the moment, we’ve got two refineries: Natref and Astron,” explained Swart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In South Africa, there are three production methods and raw inputs used to generate refined fuel products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Refineries like Natref and Astron process imported crude oil into refined fuel, while facilities like Sasol operate plants that convert coal into synthetic fuel products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
PetroSA operates a facility designed to convert natural gas into synthetic fuel, but it is currently in standby and not being used to refine or produce fuel due to a shortage of gas feedstock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Together, domestic crude oil refineries and Sasol’s plant cover only 39% of South Africa’s local fuel demand, which has forced it to rely mainly on imports for finished refined products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Swart said that SAPREF and ENREF produced 180,000 barrels a day and 120,000 barrels a day, respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SAPREF and ENREF were two of South Africa’s largest crude oil refineries, which are both located in Durban.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SAPREF was placed on pause\/idle status in 2020 for economic reasons and was permanently shut down after severe flood damage in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is currently the main target of the proposed R117 billion redevelopment plan, which aims to rebuild and expand its capacity to 400,000 barrels per day, and potentially up to 650,000 barrels per day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
South Africa’s declining refining capacity makes it vulnerable to geopolitical risks<\/h2>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/gwede-mantashe-e1789644493973-1024x576.jpg\")
<\/a>Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources, Gwede Mantashe<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nENREF, with a capacity of 120,000 barrels per day, was closed in 2020 after a severe fire caused major damage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The loss of the two Durban refineries accounts for a significant share of the country’s lost refining output.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Swart explained that it would take several years to solve these immediate challenges, even with additional funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Another problem in terms of the facilities that we build is that we overrun the planning, so it will take five to probably ten years to build it,” said Swart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He explained that, as a globally traded commodity, fuel prices are based on import parity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“When prices rise, for instance, Sasol uses coal, so their price in terms of inputs does not go up, but their profit goes up quite substantially because they then get the import parity price, but it will give us more choices and more leverage.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources, Gwede Mantashe, recently disclosed that South Africa has only 6.9 million barrels of oil in its Strategic Fuel Fund. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He answered a question from National Assembly member Mikateko Mahlaule regarding the country\u2019s petroleum supply security and the volume of strategic stock available. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mantashe highlighted that despite resilience in the petroleum sector amid instability caused by the war in Iran, South Africa’s declining refining capacity makes it vulnerable to geopolitical risks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said that the current stock of 6.9 million barrels would provide about 30 days of crude oil cover, considering the processing capacity of 200,000 barrels per day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although the decline in refining capacity is concerning, Mantashe said that Sasol\u2019s coal-to-liquid facility in Secunda serves as a stabilising factor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said that South Africa has abundant coal resources, which means that this facility complements both imported and domestically refined fuel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the low levels of strategic oil reserves remain a concern, which is why his department has published a draft Strategic Stocks Policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
South Africa currently produces about 39% of its fuel demand domestically, which is a decrease from 78% in 2019. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":781707,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2108836199301341672","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2232357157584683","_sma_instagram_post_id":"18181269247434811","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9874],"tags":[26740,26739,10185,10281,2240],"class_list":["post-878753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","tag-enref","tag-fuel-refinery","tag-petrosa","tag-sapref","tag-sasol"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878753","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\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=878753"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878753\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":878918,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878753\/revisions\/878918"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/781707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=878753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=878753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=878753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/a>ENREF, with a capacity of 120,000 barrels per day, was closed in 2020 after a severe fire caused major damage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The loss of the two Durban refineries accounts for a significant share of the country’s lost refining output.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Swart explained that it would take several years to solve these immediate challenges, even with additional funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Another problem in terms of the facilities that we build is that we overrun the planning, so it will take five to probably ten years to build it,” said Swart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He explained that, as a globally traded commodity, fuel prices are based on import parity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“When prices rise, for instance, Sasol uses coal, so their price in terms of inputs does not go up, but their profit goes up quite substantially because they then get the import parity price, but it will give us more choices and more leverage.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources, Gwede Mantashe, recently disclosed that South Africa has only 6.9 million barrels of oil in its Strategic Fuel Fund. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He answered a question from National Assembly member Mikateko Mahlaule regarding the country\u2019s petroleum supply security and the volume of strategic stock available. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mantashe highlighted that despite resilience in the petroleum sector amid instability caused by the war in Iran, South Africa’s declining refining capacity makes it vulnerable to geopolitical risks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said that the current stock of 6.9 million barrels would provide about 30 days of crude oil cover, considering the processing capacity of 200,000 barrels per day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although the decline in refining capacity is concerning, Mantashe said that Sasol\u2019s coal-to-liquid facility in Secunda serves as a stabilising factor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said that South Africa has abundant coal resources, which means that this facility complements both imported and domestically refined fuel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the low levels of strategic oil reserves remain a concern, which is why his department has published a draft Strategic Stocks Policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
South Africa currently produces about 39% of its fuel demand domestically, which is a decrease from 78% in 2019. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":781707,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2108836199301341672","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2232357157584683","_sma_instagram_post_id":"18181269247434811","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9874],"tags":[26740,26739,10185,10281,2240],"class_list":["post-878753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","tag-enref","tag-fuel-refinery","tag-petrosa","tag-sapref","tag-sasol"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878753","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\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=878753"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878753\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":878918,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878753\/revisions\/878918"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/781707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=878753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=878753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=878753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}