Patronising Petrosa

DEAR EDITOR — In his letter (Change lanes, not oil, Letters, October 2), Philip Lloyd adopted a patronising tone in his reference to PetroSA, concluding with the outrageous argument that the national oil company’s legitimate concerns about security of fuels supply amounts to saying SA needs “a change of government”. We find both his tone and his leap in logic most unfortunate and deeply regrettable.

As he may recall, in 2006 SA experienced acute fuel supply interruptions following the introduction of clean fuels. The Moerane Commission recommended that a broad range of initiatives had to be undertaken in order to strengthen the liquid fuels supply chain. This included improved pipeline logistics, port and storage facilities as well as new refining capacity.

Project Mthombo was initiated as a direct response to the findings of the Moerane Commission.