'State still supports Coega'

Cape Town - Government is concerned that South Africa's fuel supply security is dependent on imports, with none of the local refineries having indicated expansion plans, Energy Minister Dipuo Peters said on Tuesday.

Because of this, the state continued to support PetroSA's plans to build a mega crude refinery at Coega in the Eastern Cape, she said during debate on her budget vote in the National Assembly.

Construction on the refinery, known as Project Mthombo, is expected to start in 2010. It is expected to come on stream in 2014.

Peters said future growth forecasts indicated that, without increased local refining capability, South Africa would be importing up to 20% of its total refined fuels by 2015 and doubling that by 2025.

"That is not the road to independent, self-sustaining nationhood," she said.

PetroSA's new world-class refinery would provide the lowest cost refined products sufficient to cater for the country's shortfall needs until 2030.

Peters said the national strategic fuel stocks policy would be revised to include holding commercial as well as emergency stocks.

On fuel prices, she said she did not intend to start any form of deregulation of the liquid fuels industry in the next five years.

However, government would monitor international developments in the sector and continuously evaluate its pricing framework.

- Sapa