Morning Brief: SA’s entire oil refinery network is down following Sasol outage

Good morning, here’s what you need to know today.

Sasol does not expect there will be fuel shortages after it closed the Natref refinery over the weekend, Business owners say load shedding is worse for profits than covid-19, and ANC deputy secretary general Jessie Duarte dies.

Sasol does not expect fuel shortage as it pauses work at Natref refinery – Business Day (for subscribers)

Sasol declared a force majeure over the weekend and halted operations at the Natref oil refinery in Sasolburg due to a delay of an expected crude oil shipment from Durban port.

The move means South Africa does not have any oil refineries in operation at the moment. Sasol says it does not expect a fuel shortage but the shutdown of SA’s entire oil-refinery fleet will undoubtedly stoke fears of a petrol outage.

Sasol said that it would not be able to meet petroleum supply commitments in July but that the crude tanker had arrived in Durban and cargo dispatches are underway. Read more here.

‘We thought Covid was bad’: Business owners fume as load shedding hits profits – News24/AFP

Eskom says load shedding may come to an end this week but the damage has already been wrought with each stage of power cuts estimated to cost the economy around R500 million a day in lost activity while business owners are feeling the pinch.

The cost of running generators just to keep the lights on has eaten into profits and added an unnecessary cost burden onto businesses after South Africa spent as much as two weeks with stage 6 power cuts, which entails up to eight hours a day without electricity.

Business owners say they are worried they won’t be able to keep the doors open for much longer with livelihoods at stake while the supposed impending announcement from Cyril Ramaphosa about an energy plan to deal with blackouts, inspires little confidence.

ANC’s Jessie Duarte has died – Daily Maverick

Long-serving ANC deputy secretary general, Jessie Duarte, died of cancer on Sunday morning with her funeral held later that day according to Muslim rites.

Duarte had been on medical leave since November while undergoing cancer treatment.

ANC top brass spoke at her funeral including President Cyril Ramaphosa, acting secretary general Paul Mashatile, and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma. Read more here.