South African motorists could soon be finding it difficult to refill their tanks as the risk of fuel shortages continues to rise.
BusinessTech reports that the country has an over-reliance on international fuel, and global supply chain issues could therefore have a knock-on effect on the country’s fuel supply as shipments are delayed and local refineries struggle to meet demand.
One such example is that earlier this month, Cape Town International Airport had to resort to fuel rationing due to a shipment of jet fuel being delayed.
Similarly, a delay in the offloading of a diesel shipment in Mossel Bay as a result of bad weather is one of the reasons for the continued load shedding that South Africans have been dealing with for over a month.
Earlier this year, South Africa’s biggest fuel producer, Sasol also shut down its refinery while awaiting a shipment of products, meaning there was a period when a large portion of the country’s oil-refinery fleet was not producing fuels.
What this means for motorists
The concern now is that fuel shortages could potentially affect individual motorists.
Since the country is becoming increasingly reliant on imported petrol and diesel, filling stations may soon not have much to go around with or prices may rise even more rapidly as global supply is expected to drop.
Local consumers have already been dealing with enormous spikes in fuel costs this year, with prices reaching an all-time high in July with a litre of petrol 95 costing R26.74.
A big contributor to these sky-high prices has been disruptions to global oil supply and production brought about by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.
While petrol prices have since come back down to slightly more reasonable levels, the cost of fuel, in general, is still outrageously high, and diesel prices are looking far worse off than petrol.
Diesel is typically the cheaper fuel in most countries owing to it being less refined and cheaper to produce, but the global spike in demand for oil and the fact that Europe is now facing its own energy crisis as it heads into winter, means diesel is becoming highly sought after.
Compounding the issue for South Africa is the fact that Eskom is also heavily reliant on diesel at the moment, spending billions to make up for lacking electricity production at its coal-powered facilities.
Keyword: South Africa could soon be facing fuel shortages