End in sight to marine fuel drought

CLIVE EMDON THE DROUGHT of marine oil fuel appears to be nearly over as the country’s largest oil refinery, the Shell/BP Sapref refinery at Prospecton near Durban, is back in production. Spokesperson Lara Rossler said last week that the refinery was half-way to full capacity after a two-month maintenance shutdown. She said petrol, diesel and marine fuel were being manufactured and that the refinery expected to be fully operative by the end of the month. Bunker fuel agents in all ports have battled to obtain shipping fuel during the close-down that was exacerbated by a similar shutdown for maintenance by the Caltex-owned Chevron refinery in Cape Town which has been back in production for several weeks.