GAUTENG – South Africa’s largest crude oil refinery, SAPREF, has shut down in the wake of a violent protests in the nation following the jailing of former President Jacob Zuma this month.
SAPREF which has 35% of South Africa’s refining capacity has shut down due to the looting and violence in South Africa.
The company announced the latest development in a statement with a letter head “Notice of Foce Majeure” on Tuesday 13th July 2021 signed by Contracts and Procurement manager Pensilla Billat.
“Due to the civil unrest in the country and disruption of supply routes in and out of Kwazulu-Natal, suppliers of materials critical to SAPREF operations communicated the suspension of deliveries to the refinery due to safety concerns for their staff and damages to their vehicles on the roads.
“Without the said critical materials and with no clarity as to how long the unrest will last and normal supply resume, the company is unable to sustain refinery operations.
“Consequently, SAPREF has been obliged to make the difficult decision to shut down the refinery.
“As a result of the aforegoing, SAPREF hereby declares the occurrence of an event of force majeure, excusing the firm from performing under the agreement,” said Billat.
The company also stated that in the case of an anticipated complete shutdown of the refinery, continuation of existing agreements on same terms and continues become impossible.
Mr Billat said under the current situation, the firm is obliged to “suspend and / or limit the scope of work” under the agreement.
“A SAPREF focal point will make contact with you [clients] to further communicate the impact of this notice on your resources and / or equipment on all its sites.
“We trust that the need for this action in this critical time is appreciated,” the statement reads. SAPREF processes 24,000 tons of crude per day, and 2.7 billion litres of petrol per year.
