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South Africa's 172,000 barrels-per-day Sapref refinery has completed maintenance work on its visbreaker unit, Reuters reports.

Sapref spokeswoman Margaret Rowe said the unit had been shut on March 7th as part of regular maintenance schedule. "The routine maintenance work on the visbreaker unit at the SAPREF refinery in Durban was completed ahead of schedule. The unit has been restarted and is running normally," Rowe said in an emailed statement.

The Sapref plant, which is a 50:50 joint venture between Shell and BP and also produces fuel oil for the local bunker market, halted operations earlier this month. The shutdown led to marine fuel product shortages during the maintenance period and product was said to be rationed whilst the Sapref refinery was out of action.

Also, as a result of the tight availability in Durban, an increase in demand in Cape Town and Richards Bay led to increased congestion at these ports as a consequence.

The port of Durban is the country's largest in terms of cargo volume and marine fuel sold. It accounts for approximately 70 percent of total bunker demand in South Africa, which is estimated to be approximately 3.3 million metric tonnes per year. Annual volumes at the port are around 2.3 million tonnes.

Durban's other refinery - the 125,000 barrels-per-day Petronas Durban Refinery - is operated by Refiner and bunker supplier Engen Petroleum Ltd.. Malaysia's state-owned oil company, Petroliam Nasional Bhd. (Petronas) has an 80 percent stake in the Durban refinery, which is one of the principal supply sources for the South African bunker market.