EMEA News
Cape Town Refinery 'Extremely Unlikely' to Reopen
A further blow to South African bunker supply capacity may be on the way after last week's closure of the Durban refinery, with shipping intelligence service Alphatanker arguing it is now 'extremely unlikely' that the Cape Town refinery will reopen.
Local refiner Engen announced last week that it would be turning its plant near Durban into a storage terminal following a fire at the end of last year.
Production at Astron Energy's Cape Town refinery has also been suspended after a fire in July of last year.
The Cape Town plant "is extremely unlikely to reopen, considering the investment required," Alphatanker said in a note to clients this week.
The note suggest a bleak outlook for South African refining capacity, with potential threats to the long-term status of the BP/Shell Durban refinery and the Nasref plant at Sasolberg as well.
South African bunker supply capacity has already been significantly curtailed by the Engen and Astron shutdowns, according to local market sources. If this situation becomes permanent, it may stymie the South African bunker market's efforts to recover from the nadir of last year's COVID-19 slump.
