Durban - Petrol pumps are running dry at Caltex garages in KwaZulu-Natal, with a refinery shutdown and supply hiccup that is costing station owners millions of rand in lost revenue.
With the petrol price having gone down by 46 cents on Wednesday, Caltex garage owners hoped to cash in as motorists filled their tanks.
But for some, like Tony Ball who runs the Caltex garage in Bulwer Road, Glenwood, there is not a drop left to sell.
“We were warned about the shortage and that it would start on October 22,” he said.
However, he said he had not received enough updates on efforts to supply the stations.
Ball said he normally sold 10 000 litres of fuel a day, but because of the shortage, he had not been making any sales.
Another garage owner, who requested anonymity because of a fear of being victimised, said his garage was losing R150 000 a day in revenue.
Hours
As a result of the problem, he has had to reduce his staff’s working hours to save costs.
His workers were not happy with this, he said.
“We are tired of talking to oil companies,” he said.
“We engaged with them about a contingency plan and they said they did not have a contingency plan.”
He said he was worried about losing customers.
The chief executive of the Fuel Retailers Association of South Africa, Reggie Sibiya, said he was aware of the problem.
He said the organisation was getting conflicting stories from the South African Petroleum Industry Association, which said the issue had been resolved.
But fuel retailers were saying they were still experiencing shortages, Sibiya said.
“We are not sure if this is a result of poor planning or because of the unplanned shutdown.”
The Daily News was unable to contact Caltex at the time of publication, but according to a letter from Chevron SA, stuck on petrol pumps at Ball’s garage, there had been an unexpected refinery shutdown.
The letter, dated October 22, from Chevron’s Douglas Nkambwe Mutimba, the senior manager for commercial and industrial fuels in Durban, said: “One of our major industry partners is currently experiencing an unexpected refinery shutdown which is affecting the ability to supply product into various pipeline facilities.”
The notice said this had affected supply in Durban and inland areas and said plans were in place with international partners to increase production volumes. - The Daily News