The South African National Petroleum Company (SANPC) invites key stakeholders and members of the
media to join a series of exclusive engagements during Africa Energy Week (AEW) 2024, held to be from 4-8
November. This initiative, forms part of the SANPC’s broader investment and partnership programme with
Energy and Capital Power, which aims to strengthen South Africa’s energy security, drive new investment
opportunities, and foster international collaborations.

SANPC CEO Mr. Godfrey Moagi will join experts from Petrobras, Sonangol, and Namibia Energy Corporation
to explore what Africa’s emerging energy sector can learn from Brazil’s deepwater exploration successes.
With Brazil’s offshore fields producing over 1 million barrels per day through strategic policies and advanced
technologies, this roundtable offers critical insights for developing resilient, sustainable infrastructure in
Southern Africa’s frontier basins.

The new corporation is also expected to oversee strategic planning, coordination, and governance of the country’s petroleum resources, contributing to sustainable development and economic growth.

According to Mantashe, to bring this Cabinet approval into effect, the final draft of the SANPC Bill has been submitted to the state law advisor for constitutional certification. It will be gazetted for public comments in July this year.

“We implore members to ensure its finalisation before the end of the term of this administration,” said the minister.

The merger regarding the SANPC has been on the cards since June 2020 and has failed to meet various deadlines.

Speaking on the merger, a day before Mantashe’s delivery, the chairperson of the CEF, Ayanda Noah, said that the merger of the three entities had been a colossal task and it is now entered its second phase following an initial period involving a feasibility test, reported Engineering News.

“This merger will be a catalyst for unlocking economic growth in the country. We are now focused on accelerating our efforts to finalise implementation of Phase 2, to get to those massive market opportunities,” Noah said.

Mantashe said that the merger comes as the petroleum supply is significantly unstable.

“The closure of crude oil refineries has presented a new set of challenges, with potential instability if not well-managed,” said the minister.

“Importation of petroleum products has reached unprecedented levels. The robustness of the distribution infrastructure will be tested when the Sasolburg refinery goes into a mandatory maintenance shutdown for four  months scheduled for later this month.”

He said that contingency plans are being put in place to eliminate the risk of product shortage in the market. The minister of energy further welcomed the return of the Cape Town refinery to full operation.

The lack of adequate petroleum production capacity was highlighted last year in July when Sasol, the country’s largest fuel producer, declared force majeure on the supply of petrol products due to crude deliveries to its Natref refinery.

As a result, the country was without a single working refinery and was solely at the mercy of global supply chains and imported petrol.

PetroSA

PetroSA, one of the state-owned companies involved in the merger, has been in the public eye recently due to its links with supplying Eskom with diesel to burn its open-cycle gas turbines.

In early February this year, the company was accused of overcharging the power utility struggling to keep the lights on; however, it said this was not the case.

PetroSA has stated that in terms of its contract with Eskom, they rely on the Basic Fuel Price (BFP) pricing mechanism.

According to the company, this ensures that PetroSA sells to Eskom at the M-1 BFP rate.