ACSA Reports 5–6 Days of Jet Fuel Cover at OR Tambo After Natref Refinery Shutdown

South Africa's Airports Company (ACSA) said on Friday that it has put measures in place to ensure continued fuel security following an unplanned shutdown at the Natref refinery, caused by a steam boiler failure that damaged key refinery units.

Natref supplies between 70% and 80% of jet fuel demand at OR Tambo International Airport, with the balance sourced through the Multi-Product Pipeline from the coast and dedicated rail deliveries. ACSA said OR Tambo currently holds between five and six days of fuel cover, against average daily demand of approximately 3,850 cubic metres. At Cape Town International Airport, between 70% and 75% of jet fuel is sourced from the Astron refinery, with the remainder supplied through marine imports stored at the Burgan terminal; Cape Town currently has around 4.5 days of fuel cover, with daily replenishments in place, a figure expected to rise to approximately 5.5 days following the return of a fuel storage tank from planned maintenance on 26 August. ACSA said fuel reserves at other airports remain robust.

According to information provided by Sasol to Transnet Pipelines and the Fuel Industry of South Africa (FIASA), the repair and recommissioning programme resulting from the boiler failure is expected to affect refinery production, and jet fuel availability in particular, from around 6 September to 4 October 2026, subject to the successful completion of repairs. Sasol and FIASA are expected to submit a formal industry mitigation proposal to Transport Minister Barbara Creecy on Monday, 31 August.

ACSA said the industry is expected to rely more heavily on coastal imports through the Port of Durban during the Natref outage, and that an integrated industry response is being developed, including increased coastal jet fuel imports, additional diesel injections, optimisation of Transnet logistics capacity, and closer coordination among industry stakeholders.

ACSA said it is monitoring fuel stocks daily and has set a minimum baseline of five days' stock at its fuel farms. If stocks at any airport are expected to fall to three days of cover, ACSA said it would trigger formal crisis management measures, including closer monitoring of replenishments, direct engagement with affected airlines, and activation of its Fuel Forum.

This case illustrates how airport fuel security can hinge on a single refinery: OR Tambo draws 70-80% of its jet fuel from Natref alone, so a mechanical failure at one facility immediately compresses the airport's buffer toward a multi-day rather than multi-week cushion. Cape Town's dependence on the Astron refinery for 70-75% of supply, offset by marine imports at Burgan, shows the same structural pattern playing out with a different backstop.

How this segment actually functions becomes visible in the response: pipeline capacity, rail delivery, and coastal marine imports exist precisely to substitute for refinery output when it is interrupted, and ACSA's five-day baseline and three-day crisis trigger define the operational thresholds that turn a supply disruption into an active management event rather than a silent one.

The next fixed points are the formal mitigation proposal Sasol and FIASA are due to submit to Transport Minister Barbara Creecy on 31 August, and the repair and recommissioning window Sasol has flagged for around 6 September to 4 October, which will determine whether coastal imports and pipeline optimisation can hold OR Tambo's cover above the three-day trigger for the full duration.