Johannesburg - South Africa’s 180 000 barrels-per-day Sapref refinery shut one of its process units for repairs after a problem was discovered during a post-maintenance restart.
“During the process of ramping up to full capacity after the planned turnaround, a problem was encountered on one of the process units,” spokesperson Margaret Rowe said.
“This has necessitated the unit being taken down for repairs which are expected to take about two weeks. The refinery continues to produce on-spec products.”
The ministry of energy said last week that South Africa has been hit by shortages of bitumen and liquefied petroleum gas due to problems at four of the country’s six refineries.
Sapref is jointly owned by Shell and BP.