The South African National Department of Transport announced on 26 January 2025, that the fuels industry and its stakeholders have in total secured 121.1 million litres of jet fuel needed at the O.R. Tambo International Airport (ORTIA) until the National Petroleum Refiners of South Africa (NATREF) refinery opens its doors at the end of February 2025.
This announcement follows an urgent meeting convened by the Minister of Transport, Ms Barbara Creecy last Friday the 24th of January 2025, with relevant fuel industry stakeholders to resolve jet fuel shortages.
The meeting was attended by Airport Company South Africa (ACSA), Fuel Industry Association of South Africa (FIASA) and SASOL. The aim was to resolve jet fuel shortages threatening to disrupt flight operations at OR Tambo International Airport in February 2025.
The cause of the anticipated fuel shortages was the shutdown of the National Petroleum Refiners of South Africa (NATREF), which caught fire on the 4th of January 2025.
This led to some airlines making alternative arrangements to secure fuel at Windhoek, King Shaka Airport and other destinations at considerable inconvenience to passengers and crew.
A week before this announcement, the fuels industry indicated to ACSA that it had secured 50 million litres of jet fuel from various suppliers and by Friday, an additional 71.1 million litres were secured which brings the total to 121.1 million litres of jet fuel for OR Tambo.
The above total will be imported through the Port of Durban via three vessels expected to arrive on 01 February and 10 February 2025.
The meeting agreed that all parties would work on a logistics plan to ensure the imported fuel supply moves from the Port of Durban to OR Tambo in time for airline needs. An update on these logistics plans will be presented to the Minister on Friday 31 January 2025.
Minister Creecy has expressed her appreciation to passengers, businesses and stakeholders for their patience during this period of unforeseen difficulty and apologises for the inconvenience caused.
