South Africa’s refinery woes due to virus raise reliance on fuel imports

JOHANNESBURG: South Africa, which buys nearly a third of its fuel requirements from overseas, is undergoing a surge in imports with the refining industry walloped by the coronavirus and anticipated clean-fuel regulations.

There are questions around the fate of five of the country’s six facilities. PetroSA’s 45,000 barrel-a-day plant is expected to run out of natural gas feedstock next month and Glencore Plc’s Cape Town refinery has been shut since February. Combined they would take over a fifth of the nation’s processing capacity offline.