The sale of the South African Petroleum Refinery (Sapref), jointly owned by multinational energy companies BP and Shell, to the state-owned Central Energy Fund for R1 (five US cents) raises questions about whether the company is evading its social and environmental liabilities.
The Sapref refinery was commissioned (began operating) in 1964 in the port city of Durban. It contributed 35% of South Africa’s refinery capacity and refined 180,000 barrels of imported crude oil per day. It was South Africa’s biggest refinery, until it was temporarily closed in 2022 after floods damaged the plant. It never reopened.
It was built in the midst of several communities with a population today of approximately 285,000. For decades, it was at loggerheads with these communities over pollution, including oil pipeline leaks.
