• Sasol said on Monday that oil supply to its crucial Natref refinery has slowly started up again
• Sasol declared force majeure on the supply of petroleum products on 15 July, due to delays in delivery in crude oil shipments to Natref
• Sasol also said that its fuel production dropped 10% in the financial year to end in June, mainly due to a postponed annual plant shutdown, coal supply and quality challenges and operational instabilities.
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SA’s largest fuel producer Sasol said on Monday that oil supply to its crucial Natref refinery has slowly started up again, and operations are expected to return to normal over the next week.

Sasol declared force majeure on the supply of petroleum products on 15 July, due to delays in delivery in crude oil shipments to Natref due to force majeure at the loading port.

“Crude oil supply has subsequently been partially restored,” Sasol said on Monday morning.

“Natref is expected to restore production capacity by the end of July 2022.”

Crude oil that is destined for Natref is offloaded in Durban port, where it is first stored and then pumped around 600km to the refinery. The refinery is a joint venture between Sasol mining and TotalEnergies.

The Natref shutdown followed news of other key several refineries in SA that have had to suspend operations either temporarily, indefinitely, or permanently.

In February, BP and Shell announced they would be halting operations indefinitely at Sapref – Southern Africa’s biggest crude oil refinery, which can process some 180 000 barrels a day and accounts for 35% of SA’s refining capacity.

By March, Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe confirmed that government, through the Central Energy Fund, was considering acquiring Sapref in a bid to save it.

Drop in production

Sasol also said that its fuel production dropped 10% in the financial year to end in June, mainly as a result of the postponed annual plant shutdown, coal supply and quality challenges, as well as operational instabilities during the first half.

In its quarterly report released on Monday, the synthetic fuels and chemicals group, said there had however been an improved performance in the second half of the year which helped it to  deliver production volumes of 6.9 million tons for the year, exceeding the market guidance of between 6.7 million tons and 6.8 million tons.

This, Sasol said, was thanks to a slightly higher natural gas allocation which was diverted from the group’s Sasolburg operations.

The group said it will continue to focus on coal quality as it remains a significant variable to achieving our targeted production volumes and maintaining operational stability across the value chain.

In the chemicals division, Sasol saw a 22% jump in sales revenue.

Overall the group’s financial performance benefitted from a favourable macroeconomic environment, with a higher crude oil price, refining margins and chemicals prices following heightened geopolitical tensions.

This performance was further underpinned by strong cost and capital discipline, Sasol said.

– with Marelise van der Merwe

SOURCE:

Crude supply at Sasol’s key Natref refinery ‘partially restored’ | Fin24 (news24.com)