Sasol and Total joint-owned South African Natref oil refinery will be closed for scheduled maintenance until the end of November, a spokesman reveals.

The 108,500 barrels per day (bpd) refinery will be closed between October 6th and November 21st for routine maintenance procedures, Reuters reports.

South Africa has a total oil refining capacity of approximately 708,000 bpd – as such the closure of the Natref plant will be felt in output terms.

However, the company insists it has put measures in place to minimise the impact of the maintenance period for the South African economy, with the spokesman saying: “Sasol Oil has put contingencies in place to manage product flow, including the increase of our product stockpile prior to the shutdown, to maintain market supply for the duration of the maintenance”.

The Natref refinery recently underwent an upgrade project which increased production capacity by 25 percent to the current 108,500 bpd figure at a cost of 750 million rand ($86.3 million).

The refinery plays a unique role in the South African market given its unusual inland location, being found at Sasolburg on the borders of the Free State to the south of Johannesburg, near to the main industrial spaces.  Equipped with state-of-the-art technologies to facilitate production at its inland location, the refinery produces 70 percent more white products than coastal operations – but also requires frequent upkeep and maintenance of the equipment.

South Africa is usually able to meet its own oil needs through its six domestic refineries, however, following the labour instabilities of recent months and the slowing economy, the oil output of the country has been affected, with International Enterprise compiling data suggesting that as much as 208,000 tonnes of oil products were directly imported from Singapore by South Africa.  Imported products included gasoline and diesel.

With South Africa already being unable to deal with market pressures at the moment and unable to meet domestic demand, the stoppage of output at the Natref refinery comes at an unfortunate time.

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