State-owned PetroSA is desperate to keep the inner workings of its diesel trading business a secret. The details that amaBhungane managed to extract show why.
In May last year, two oil tankers set sail for South Africa, each carrying $35-million (R650-million) worth of diesel.
Their destination: Mossel Bay, where the diesel could potentially be piped into Eskom’s open cycle gas turbines and burned to keep load shedding at bay.
When the tankers arrived, however — Jag Pushpa on 11 May 2024 and Centennial Matsuyama on 16 May — they found there was no room at the inn: PetroSA’s storage tanks were full.
With demurrage costs increasing at $35,000 (R650,000) a day, PetroSA “scanned the market” looking for a buyer and settled on a little-known company, Nako Energy, which offered to buy the diesel at a hefty discount.
