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Repairs to the Damaged Engen Refinery Would Take Three to Six Weeks

07-17-2007

The fire that broke out at fuel giant Engen’s Durban refinery in early June would cost $2.9 million to repair, a spokesperson said. Herb Payne said that the repairs would take three to six weeks to effect.

Speaking in a telephone interview, he said the fire was cause by a defect in a pipe junction. “We expect to be back at full production sometime in August,” he added.

South African Petroleum Industries Association (Sapia), of which Engen is a member, said last week that the fire damage should not significantly affect the country’s fuel supplies.

Sapia director Connel Ngcukana said at the time that Engen had imported more refined fuel than it required to supply South Africa during a planned maintenance shutdown, in case there were problems with the start up. The fire occurred during the start-up process, and was extinguished on July 3.