- The Cabinet – not PetroSA – announced in December 2023 that Russia’s Gazprombank had been selected to restart Mossel Bay’s gas-to-liquids refinery.
- The choice of a sanctioned Russian bank was seen as risky by some and suicidal by others, but with the Cabinet’s seal of approval, the R3.7-billion deal had the political cover it needed to go ahead.
- Now, a year later, Gazprombank appears to have reneged on the deal, leaving PetroSA scrambling to find a new partner for the mothballed refinery, which is costing PetroSA upwards of R500-million a year to maintain.
The details of how the Russian deal soured are set out in two draft internal audit reports and letters exchanged between PetroSA and Gazprombank, obtained by amaBhungane from a number of sources.
The documents suggest that Gazprombank’s bid should have scored just 40 points out of 100 – not 80 – which would have put its bid in a distant third place.
They also show that the bank has failed to deliver the $200-million (R3.7-billion) in funding it had promised, or even the $3-million (R56-million) needed to complete a bankable feasibility study.
“If you fail to deliver… PetroSA will have no further option but to recommend termination of any further engagements with [Gazprombank],” PetroSA told the Russians in August 2024.
“Based on the serious deviations identified in this report… Internal Audit recommend that Management consider the cancellation of [the Gazprombank tender]prior to finalising definite agreements,” three senior members of PetroSA’s internal audit team told executives in a draft report circulated in October.
When acting CEO Mmete Fusi appeared in Parliament a few days later he told MPs: “We should know whether we continue or not continue with the current partner – we are at that decision point.”
The only qualifying bidder
When Gazprombank was announced as the winning bidder of RFP 0001/2023 in November 2023, it looked like a stitch-up: 20 companies had bid and 19 had been eliminated on technical grounds, leaving the Russians as the only qualifying candidate.
Author: Susan Comrie for amaBhungane
This is an extract from a main article for the amaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism. Read the rest of this exclusive story HERE.
The amaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism, an independent non-profit, produced this story. Like it? Be an amaB Supporter to help them do more. Sign up for their newsletter to get more.
