Johannesburg - South Africa’s inland fuel supply could run at a shortage if Transnet does not make a decision soon on when the accumulation tanks that are needed for the national multi-products petroleum pipeline (NPP) will be built, South African Petroleum Industry Association (SAPIA) executive director Avhapfani Tshifularo said in Johannesburg on Tuesday.
“The tanks were meant to be ready in 2010, no one knows what the hold-up is,” Tshifularo said at a roundtable discussion.
He said the current NPP only pumps diesel at the moment but it needed to be made multi-purpose as soon as possible because the Durban-Johannesburg Pipeline (DJP) is very old and can stop working at anytime.
“We are praying every day that the DJP holds up because the pipes can’t be replaced by any other form of transportation, maybe rail but it definitely won’t be the same, it will be catastrophical.”
He went on to say that load shedding did not affect refineries because they all had generators.
African News Agency