The Competition Tribunal has approved the sale by TotalEnergies South Africa of its 36.36% stake in the National Petroleum Refiners of South Africa (Natref) to a local subsidiary of the UK’s Prax Group, and which will serve as the hub of its further expansion into the region.
Sasol is the biggest shareholder and operator of Natref refinery, a statement from the Tribunal said. It approved the transaction, first reached in December 2023, subject to conditions that involve historically disadvantaged persons transactions and capital expenditure commitments – the specifics of these conditions were not made public.
Natref is located in Sasolburg, it has a refinery capacity of 108 500 barrels of oil per day and supplies the main South African inland market. Prax is involved in the production, supply, storage, refining and distribution of crude oil, petroleum products and biofuels in the UK. It does not have any operations in South Africa or neighbouring countries.
Prax said in a statement that the joining of the Natref jointventure would facilitate its entrance into the South African market and represented the next step in the company’s international growth strategy.
“The group’s intention is that the Natref Refinery will serve as a focal point for its expansion into Africa, with further investment and a regional hub built around this key asset in South Africa,” it said.
Prax also planned to improve the refinery’s competitive position through future strategic investment. It said it would draw upon experience in technological upgrading to ensure stability and security of energy supply in South Africa through continuity of operations.
Prax Group CEO and chairman Sanjeev Kumar Soosaipillai said at the signing of the deal in December: “The signing of this agreement is the first step towards our entry into Africa.”
The crude oil to feed the Natref refinery is supplied to Sasolburg via a Transnet-owned pipeline from Durban.
Two weeks ago, Transnet was ordered to pay over R6 billion in damages, following a high court ruling on a court case dating back to 2017 when Sasol Oil and TotalEnergies instituted legal action against Transnet for overcharging on the transportation of crude oil on the pipeline by not correctly using an agreed formula to determine the tariff.
At the end of last month, Prax also acquired TotalEnergies’ interests in the Greater Laggan Area fields and the onshore Shetland Gas Plant, and it also acquired Hurricane Energy last year – a UK-based oil and gas exploration and production company.
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