BP and Shell have decided to stop operations indefinitely at the Sapref refinery in Durban, in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa in March 2022. A re-start will be possible in the future, including in the event of any future sale. Created in 1963, Sapref is the largest crude oil refinery in South Africa with a capacity of 180,000 bbl/d, accounting for 35% of the country’s refining capacity.
There are three other refineries in South Africa: Engen (120 kb/d), Caltex Oil (110 kb/d), and Natref (105 kb/d). In April 2021, the South African petroleum products group Engen, an affiliate of Malaysia’s state-owned energy group Petronas, unveiled plans to shut down its refinery in KwaZulu-Natal near Durban (South Africa) and repurpose the site into an import terminal and product storage facility by the end of 2023.