South Africa’s Portfolio Committee on Mineral and Petroleum Resources (PCMPR) conducted an oversight visit to the country’s Strategic Fuel Fund (SFF) in Saldanha and the 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) Astron Energy Refinery in Milnerton on March 25 and 26, respectively, to assess Astron’s preparation for the 2027 clean fuels deadline.

The visits come as the country grapples with the realisation that it cannot afford to halt production at Astron refinery, as that would leave only two plants – Sasol’s Secunda Coal-to-Liquid and Sasolburg Gas-to-Liquid refinery – operational. Notably, visits to these plants by the committee also occurred in February.

Astron previously shut down following an explosion 2020, with its owner Glencore resuming operations a few years later in 2022. Overall, South Africa has been suffering through an acute fuel shortage, but has seen some benefits from reopening the plant – negating some petroleum product shortages despite a lot of the country’s refining slate remaining out of commission.

Glencore CEO Gary Nagle said in 2022 regarding the reopening of the facility that “It’s not just a rebuild to what we had before. We’ve actually improved the refinery. We will be able to produce additional products. We've changed the cost base. And we believe that, certainly, we'll bring on that refinery, it will be profitable."

At the time, Nagle hinted the refinery would eventually be able to produce fuel in line with South Africa’s incoming Clean Fuel 2 (CF2) legislation, saying: “We are bringing it back on and we believe there is a commercial case to do that”.

Alongside refinery visits, the committee's visit to the SFF (a subsidiary of the Central Energy Fund Group) sought to ensure that the organisation maintains adequate petroleum reserves to guarantee “constant supply during cases of emergency”. Currently, the SFF remains responsible for all management and storage of crude oil stocks, petroleum products and oil and gas infrastructure projects, both private and government-owned.