Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources Gwede Mantashe has called on South Africans not to panic as the South African fuel supply remains stable.
The Minister was answering questions in Parliament on Wednesday.
Fuel supply security has come under scrutiny following heightened tensions in Iran which led to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz – causing a disruption in the flow of global oil and liquified natural gas supplies.
“Despite the heightened geopolitical risk, including disruptions in the Middle East shipping routes, the Republic’s current petroleum supply security arrangement remains robust. The latest monitoring report confirms the overall supply is stable across petroleum products, with imports arriving as planned through the mid-April 2026.
“Inland supply is supported by stable refining. Sasol, SAPREF [South African Petroleum Refineries] and the coal to liquid refinery in Secunda is ensuring that there is a reliable supply of energy.
“The reason why we are confident is that our department meets the petroleum producers - all of them - twice a week to monitor the situation. So, when we articulate a position, it’s not only for the state-owned entities, but we are also talking for everybody,” Mantashe said.
The Minister added that the Cape Town refinery’s maintenance shutdown ends at the end of April, which is expected to “add to the reliability of the supply in the country”.
Turning to Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG), Mantashe assured that supply on this front has also remained stable.
“Our crude oil is sourced from Africa and the Atlantic basin – not in the Middle East. So, every arrangement that we do is supplementing what we normally source from the Middle East. Our refining capacity is giving us 40% security in energy supply. But forward imports are covering for longer periods as we look for diversification.
“Even the Strait of Hormuz allows cargo that comes to South Africa without interruption. That means, we are having the chance of having stable supply over a long period. There should be no panic in society,” he explained.
Mantashe added that supply is secured “until the end of April, including jet fuel”.
“Jet fuel…has been announced as short. It is not short. The price has gone up dramatically, almost double. But there is no shortage of supply of jet fuel,” the Minister said.
He revealed that South Africa has at least 8 million barrels of crude oil in its strategic fuel stock.
“That is not used. It will be used when it’s a real crisis. Our supply of energy is divided into two. [Some] 60% is imported processed products and 40% is processed by our own refineries and Sasol,” Mantashe said. – SAnews.gov.za
