Petroleum industry operations ‘close to full operational capacity’

The SA Petroleum Industry Association (Sapia)’s operations resumed after last week’s unrest across KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and parts of Mpumalanga.

Executive director of Sapia Avhapfani Tshifularo confirmed some operations were slowly getting back to normal after a number of retail service station sites were damaged and set alight.

“While operations at some facilities in KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and Mpumalanga were suspended for the safety of people and the protection of assets, deliveries have resumed with the improvement of the situation and the reopening of the N3 and N2 routes.

“Operations in KwaZulu-Natal are normalising and close to full operational capacity,” he said.

Tshifularo added that the availability of products remained stable and the petroleum industry engaged with the department of mineral resources.

“Sapia continued to actively engage with the department of mineral resources to ensure that adequate supply to the market is maintained,” he said.

Sasol’s communication’s officer, Matebello Motloung, said Sasol’s facilities in Secunda where fuels and chemicals are produced from coal, as well as Sasolburg (the Natref refinery) where fuels where produced from crudeoil, remained operational and stable.

“We have experienced disruption in some of our supply routes where the protest action was ongoing. Secunda refinery was a 160 000bpd [barrels per day] facility, while Natref was a 110 000bpd facility,” she said.

Sasol owned 63% of Natref and Total 27%. Some of the company’s convenience centres were also damaged during the unrest.

“A handful of our retail convenience centres (RCC) in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng were damaged during the unrest. Due to the continued disruption to road networks, we are experiencing some challenges in ensuring that product is supplied to our RCC network in a safe, secure manner that protects both personnel and damage to property,” she said.

Sasol also experienced disruptions in their customer product deliveries in southern Africa and globally due to export infrastructure.

“We worked closely with our logistics and supply chain partners and monitored the impacts.”