Since production at the Sapref plant in Prospecton south of Durban was wound down to a complete stop in April last year, the KZN Government has said it is facilitating talks between the plant’s owners and the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy to determine its future.

This was revealed by KZN Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube during the State of the Province Address on Friday.

Owned jointly by BP Southern Africa and Shell Refining South Africa, the crude oil refinery was once the biggest in the country, producing 2.7 billion litres of petrol per year, which represented 35% of South Africa’s fuel capacity.

Dube-Ncube said while talks continue, operations at the plant remain on hold. “We are facilitating a meeting with the shareholders to come to some conclusion on the plan to resuscitate or explore options on what is required to bring the facility back to operations as per our previous commitments,” she said.

In February 2022, former KZN premier Sihle Zikalala said the provincial government was interested in buying Sapref from BP and Shell, but the subsequent floods put talks on hold two months later.