Mantashe pins hopes on Saudi refinery in SA

Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe says he hopes to persuade Saudi oil giant Saudi Aramco to revive its interest in building a refinery in South Africa.

The Saudi-South Africa refinery project dates back to July 2018, when President Cyril Ramaphosa undertook his first state visit to the Gulf country, and was earmarked for Richards Bay. However, the proposal never materialised.

In a visit to Saudi Arabia last month, Mantashe said South Africa had again put the refinery project back on the agenda. This follows the destruction of key parts of the Sapref refinery in Durban following floods in KwaZulu-Natal in April. Mantashe had hoped that the Central Energy Fund (CEF) would buy Sapref after joint owners Shell and BP ceased operations in March.

Answering questions in the National Assembly on Wednesday, Mantashe said: "We made efforts to revive Sapref, but it was subject to disaster in KwaZulu-Natal. We are now engaging a number of players. One is Saudi Aramco's proposal to build a refinery in the country."

Mantashe told MPs that the Strategic Fuel Fund was building additional storage capacity for refined petroleum in Saldana and Mossel Bay to ensure the country has sufficient strategic stocks. Of SA's 10.3 million barrels of crude oil stocks, 6 million are to be sold to cover the cost of the R1.50 price relief to consumers earlier this year.

The SFF would mitigate the risk of selling these stocks by increasing refined product stocks, he said.-Fin24