PetroSA plant restart may ease shortages

Johannesburg - State oil company PetroSA has restarted its 45 000 barrels per day (bpd) gas-to-liquids Mossel Bay refinery, its spokesperson said on Monday, which should ease a shortage of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and bitumen in the country.

SA has been hit by shortages of the two products due to planned and unplanned shutdowns at four of the country’s six refineries.
LPG is used in manufacturing processes, as fuel and by households, while bitumen is used in road construction.

Asked about the status of PetroSA’s refinery that was shut after a steam line failure, company spokesperson Thabo Mabaso said: “We have started operating about a week or so ago.”

Engen Petroleum has said its 125 000 bpd plant will be shut until the end of November, due to a fire and planned maintenance works at the plant.

Sapa reported on Monday that about 20 Engen service stations across the country have run dry owing to the shutdowns.

The company could not immediately be reached for comment. Engen runs 1 200 service stations nationally.

A 180 000 bpd SAPREF refinery, jointly owned by Shell and BP, shut one of its process units for repairs after a problem was discovered during a post-maintenance restart. A person said on October 27 it would take about two weeks to repair the unit.

South Africa’s refineries are expected to operate at over 95% of their total 708 000 bpd capacity again by the third week of November.

Other refineries in South Africa include Chevron’s 100 000 bpd Chevref refinery, the 108 000 bpd Natref refinery jointly owned by Sasol and Total and Sasol’s 150 000 bpd refinery at Secunda.