IDEAS21

South Africa currently imports around two thirds of its liquid fuels. The government’s strategy regarding security of liquid fuel supply assumes that sufficient crude oil imports will be both available and affordable in the foreseeable future.

 The emphasis has been on ensuring that adequate quantities of refined products are available to meet rising demand, especially in the economic heartland of Gauteng. Hence Transnet’s new multi-product pipeline from Durban and PetroSA’s proposed new 400,000 barrel per day refinery at Coega (although the logistical questions about transporting products to distant markets remain unanswered).

However, these assumptions are out of alignment with mounting scientific evidence on the depletion of finite global oil resources and the empirical phenomenon termed ‘peak oil’.  

(more…)