Jet fuel shortage in Johannesburg averted

Airport Company South Africa (Acsa) says it has secured 121 million litres of jet fuel to stave off the shortages that were threatening to disrupt flight operations at OR Tambo International Airport.The fuel will be imported through the Port of Durban on three vessels expected to arrive on 1 February and 10 February 2025.This comes after reports of looming fuel shortages following a fire at the National Petroleum Refiners of South Africa (Natref) refinery on 4 January.This saw some airlines having to make arrangements to secure fuel at Windhoek, King Shaka Airport and other destinations – at considerable inconvenience to passengers and crew, according to Acsa.“Jet fuel does seem like one that goes into short supply, with some suppliers saying they are out of that market,” says independent energy consultant Niall Kramer. “The airport facilities are sometimes fingered as being not that efficient.”Kramer notes that diesel is also at risk of running out because the economy runs on diesel. “That’s what factories, machinery, and trucks run on.”OR Tambo International uses some 3.6 million litres of jet fuel a day, and before the recent update the airport had stock on hand that would last until the week ending 2 February.With Natref reopening on 27 February, this translates to a total of 97.2 million litres required for February.Dave Wright of Dave Wright Consulting says one important role Natref plays is to supply a significant amount of jet fuel to OR Tambo International.“Already there has been a concern that the amount of jet fuel available for OR Tambo isn’t going to be sufficient. However, the situation won’t be that problematic for the coastal regions because the Cape Town refinery will keep the Western Cape more or less in supply, and imports through the other South African ports will keep the rest of the coastal area supplied.“The part of the country that will potentially suffer shortages will be inland regions,” he said.The country is short on refineries. Besides Natref, only Glencore plc’s Astron Energy oil refinery in Cape Town and Sasol’s Secunda plant, which makes synthetic fuels from coal and gas, are operational.Fuel imports necessarySouth Africa’s remaining refineries do not have the capacity to ensure security of supply.This means the finished product will have to be imported to close the deficit.Diesel made up 67% (12.8 billion litres) of the refined fuel imported into South Africa in 2023, followed by petrol at 23% (4.5 billion litres) while jet fuel made up 4% (674 million litres), according to the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy’s 2023 South African Energy Trade Report.Kramer says security of supply is a concern because at the moment, South Africa imports over 60% of its fuel requirements, and four years ago it was around 22%.“The trend is increasing dramatically towards imports of what is called finished product.”In 2023 the country imported diesel largely from India, Oman and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) – 2.5 billion litres, 2.6 billion litres and 2.5 billion litres respectively.Jet fuel was imported mostly from the UAE at 32% (218 million litres), followed by Saudi Arabia at 12% (83 million litres), with Kuwait and Qatar accounting for 8% each.“The strategic issue is going to be around the storage and transport and pipeline capacity because the bulk of fuel comes in through Durban,” says Kramer.The bulk of this comes through a Transnet facility called Island View and the pipeline, he notes, adding that the pipeline “is finite”.The Island View Precinct is a Transnet-owned petrochemical hub in the Port of Durban. Most of the land is occupied by terminal operators involved in the movement and storage of petrol, diesel, chemicals, aviation fuel and vegetable oils.Wright notes that with the other refineries having closed down, all of their volumes are now being imported. This means that with Natref temporarily closed, the level of imports will have to increase by the volume those refineries had been putting into the system.Natref’s refining capacity is 108 000 barrels per day and Astron, the only other remaining refinery, refines 100 000 barrels per day.“It would totally be a different situation if the Natref refinery closed down permanently,” says Wright.“Then we would find that the pipeline wouldn’t be big enough to be able to provide enough volume to the Reef and maybe even the Durban port would become a bottleneck.”-MONEYWEB

Jet fuel shortage in Johannesburg averted

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