(Adds details, context)
CAPE TOWN, Sept 10 (Reuters) - South Africa's national oil
company, PetroSA, expects its flagship Mossel Bay gas-to-liquid
(GTL) refinery to run out of domestic supplies by the end of
next year, a presentation to parliament showed on Tuesday.
"Reserves are close to depletion and are expected to run out
by December 2020 and there is still no sustainable
techno-economic long-term solution for the gas-to-liquid
refinery," a presentation by the Central Energy Fund said.
Situated on the southern coast of South Africa, the Mossel
Bay plant is one of the world's largest and is operated by
state-owned national oil and gas company PetroSA, a subsidiary
of the government's Central Energy Fund.
In February, PetroSA said they had reached out to French oil
major Total following the discovery of a huge offshore
field containing gas condensate that could potentially be used
as feedstock to Mossel Bay.
The GTL refinery is currently operating well below its
nameplate capacity of 36,000 barrels per day – equivalent to
45,000 barrels of crude oil per day - following a $1 billion
offshore drilling campaign that was halted due to poor results
in finding replacement reserves.
"PetroSA is close to negative cashflows, increasing its cost
of doing business and unable to fund its long term plans," CEF's
presentation to lawmakers said.
Shell, BP, and Engen are among operators of
crude oil refineries in Africa's most industrialised country,
which depends on imports to meet rising demand for refined
petroleum products.
(Reporting by Wendell Roelf, editing by Louise Heavens)
