Vice President of the African Refiners Association, Anabela Fonseca, says a lack of human and capital resources is the biggest challenge the oil refinery industry is facing in Africa. Fonseca was speaking at the association's fifth conference in Cape Town. She says the industry has battled to secure funding for expansion projects over the past few years.

Fonseca says, "We all know refinery is a very difficult business. The margins are so tight that it is difficult for the banks, it is too risky. So that is the main constraint is to find funds for the refinery".  "The margins are quite good. Tomorrow the margins could be negative and the reimbursement of the investment is really difficult," she added.

Meanwhile, Transnet says that its port division was not planning to build a new coal terminal, denying claims by industry sources who said the facility would be built and operational by June this year. South African industry sources said yesterday that a thermal coal export terminal would be built at South Dunes near Richards Bay and would start shipments as early as June.

There is already a coal export facility in Richards Bay. It is understood that two junior coal mining companies had been pushing for a new terminal to be built by the National Ports Authority (NPA), a division of Transnet, to enable more small Black Economic Empowerment miners to export their own coal. But, Transnet says the NPA was not in talks to build a terminal, and said a June start date was unlikely even if such plans were on the cards.