As South Africa continues to lose refining capacity, government is considering saving Sapref – the question is: should it?
That government - through the Central Energy Fund (CEF) - is mulling the acquisition of Sapref has been an open secret even before 10 February, when the refinery's joint owners Shell and BP announced they would stop operations as they mull the future of the business.
While Shell and BP hinted at a possible sale of the 180 000 barrel-a-day plant, the two oil majors stopped short of saying who the prospective buyers might be.