Africa’s richest country has about half of its oil-refining capacity shut

Roughly 49% of South Africa’s refining capacity remains idle. Over the past five years, South Africa’s refining capacity has been cut in half due to a combination of accidents and underinvestment.

As a result, the country now relies on imports to meet over 60% of its fuel demand, according to Transnet SOC Ltd., the state-owned logistics firm.

In the first quarter of 2025 alone, South Africa imported 4.2 million tons of refined petroleum products, according to energy consultancy CITAC.

For the full year, imports are projected to reach around 15.5 million tons, nearly double Kenya’s estimated 8.9 million tons and significantly more than Nigeria’s 6.4 million tons.

This import is needed because a bunch of South Africa’s main refineries have been down, per a Bloomberg report.

Sapref, the country’s largest refinery, owned by the Central Energy Fund (CEF), is shut, taking 180,000 barrels per day out of production. Engen’s plant, which pumps out 120,000 barrels daily and is now owned by Vitol, is also shut.

Meanwhile, Sasol’s Natref facility, with a daily output of 108,000 barrels, is down due to an outage. Plus, PetroSA’s gas-to-liquid plant, also run by the CEF, has stopped working, taking another 45,000 barrels a day out of the picture.

Currently, only two refineries remain operational, Sasol’s Secunda plant, which produces 150,000 barrels per day from coal and gas, and Glencore’s Astron refinery, which contributes 100,000 barrels per day. Combined, these account for less than half of the country’s former refining capacity.

In a bid to rebuild domestic refining, the South African government last year acquired the shuttered Sapref facility from Shell Plc and BP Plc.

With local production constrained, the country is increasingly turning to global fuel traders to meet demand.

Swiss commodities giant Gunvor was among the firms shortlisted last month to acquire Shell’s retail fuel network in South Africa, according to sources familiar with the matter.