Cape Town - The arrival of a shipping tanker carrying 2 000 tons of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) at Table Bay harbour will help “tide (users) over” until Cape Town’s major refinery starts producing gas again later this month.
George Tatham, managing director of Kaya Gas, said the shutdown of two refineries had led to an LPG scarcity in the Mother City. This type of gas is used for cooking and heating, and in some industrial applications.
Kaya Gas’s website describes it as the “largest supplier of LPG cylinders in Cape Town”.
The Chevron Cape Town refinery went offline in mid-February for scheduled maintenance. It is to begin producing gas, petrol, diesel and other products from Friday.
Tatham said the supply of LPG in Cape Town had been “tight”, but “manageable” after the Chevron plant shutdown, as Kaya Gas had been able to source gas from refineries in Durban and Sekunda.
But the unexpected shutdown of the Durban refinery had led to a “crisis”.
Kaya Gas, which supplies LPG to the greater Cape Town area, said it partnered Geo Gas in shipping in LPG.
The gas arrived on Saturday on the Korean-flagged tanker, Louis. Although the tanker was “not large” in comparison with international standards, the supply would be enough until the Cape Town refinery resumed production.
Weekend Argus