{"id":62006,"date":"2026-05-08T06:44:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T06:44:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/62006\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T06:44:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T06:44:16","slug":"vitol-to-invest-130-million-to-boost-south-african-storage-capacity-in-durban-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/62006\/","title":{"rendered":"Vitol to invest $130 million to boost South African storage capacity in Durban"},"content":{"rendered":"

* Vivo Energy to add 125,000 cubic metres of storage \u200bin
\nDurban<\/p>\n

* Extra capacity \u2060will help buffer South Africa from
\nfuture \u200bsupply shocks<\/p>\n

* Vivo eyes East Africa for more storage investment
\nopportunities<\/p>\n

CAPE TOWN, April 14 – Vivo Energy, a subsidiary of
\nglobal trader Vitol, \u200bis \u200cinvesting around $130 million to bulk up
\nits fuel storage capacity in South Africa’s major port city
\nDurban along the \u2060east coast, a senior company executive said on
\nTuesday.<\/p>\n

The investment, \u2060planned before the U.S.-Israeli war with
\nIran \u200bupended global energy markets and choked off the Strait of
\nHormuz transit route, could help South Africa better weather
\nfuture supply crises, said George Roberts, chief executive
\nofficer of Vivo Energy’s local unit Engen.<\/p>\n

Southern and East \u200bAfrican countries \u200cincluding South Africa,
\nwhich is a net importer of crude and refined petroleum products,
\nare vulnerable to Middle East supply disruptions, analysts said,
\na problem exacerbated by inadequate infrastructure and storage
\ncapacity.<\/p>\n

Roberts told Reuters the company was adding approximately
\n125,000 cubic meters storage capacity in Durban to increase its
\noverall storage capacity \u200bin the area to 500,000 cubic metres,
\nexpecting it to come on stream from the third quarter \u200cof 2026
\nthrough to Q3 2027 and help act as a future buffer to unexpected
\nsupply shocks such as those emanating from the Middle \u200cEast.<\/p>\n

“This will allow you to increase the stock levels in-country
\nand therefore if something like this happens again, it gives us
\nmore time to go and find product elsewhere to bring to South
\nAfrica \u200bgiven it takes on average 20, 25 days to ship product to
\nSouth Africa depending on where it comes from,” \u200che said.<\/p>\n

The additional capacity derives from converting old refinery
\ntanks in Durban, and upgrading another receiving facility at
\nIsland View, part of ongoing efforts by Vivo Energy to convert
\nthe fire-damaged Engen refinery into a \u2060storage terminal \u2060for a
\nrange of products, including diesel, petrol and jet fuel.<\/p>\n

Vivo \u200cEnergy, which markets Shell<\/a> – except in South Africa –
\nand Engen brands, is a leading African fuel retailer with more
\nthan 4,000 service \u200bstations across the continent. \u200bThe company
\nis currently investing in LPG and refined petroleum storage
\nfacilities \u200cin Ivory Coast, Senegal and Morocco, said Roberts.<\/p>\n

“Besides Uganda we have invested in our depot assets in
\nTanzania and Mozambique in recent years and if the right
\nopportunity comes up in those countries, we could invest more,”
\nRoberts said.
\n(Reporting by Wendell Roelf, editing by Alexandra Hudson)<\/p>\n

Corporate News<\/a> Commodities<\/a> Oil & Gas<\/a> \"\"Shell<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"* Vivo Energy to add 125,000 cubic metres of storage \u200bin Durban * Extra capacity \u2060will help buffer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60344,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[125],"tags":[158],"class_list":{"0":"post-62006","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-vitol","8":"tag-vitol"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116537607166043056","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62006\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}