SERIES: PetroSA
Who profited when the lights went out? The biggest beneficiary of loadshedding was the Petroleum Oil and Gas Corporation of South Africa (PetroSA). This state-owned entity has been technically insolvent for years, but thanks to diesel sales to Eskom, an aggressive push for offshore gas, and a host of politically-tainted deals, PetroSA is hoping for a comeback.
PetroSA was owed R227m. It may end up losing R1.4bn instead.
17 September, 2026
When state-owned fuel company, PetroSA, walked into the boardroom at its Parow head office, it was owed R227-million.
Delinquent soccer club boss seeking to revive $1.2bn gas deal with PetroSA
26 March, 2026
In December 2023, Shumani Lawrence Mulaudzi signed a $1.
PetroSA’s R3.5-billion ‘raid’ on student funding
28 January, 2026
As universities open their doors, 1 in 3 South African youth will be left behind at home.
Dirty Fuels Part 2: PetroSA’s R11-billion ‘contaminated’ petrol deal
8 June, 2025
In December 2023, TotalEnergies started to notice that something was off with a new kind of unleaded petrol that it was selling in the Garden Route.
Dirty fuels: Inside PetroSA’s shambolic diesel trading empire
27 May, 2025
In May last year, two oil tankers set sail for South Africa, each carrying $35-million (R650-million) worth of diesel.
Advocacy: Deals done in secret, the PetroSA way, are bad business
Our latest investigative piece detailed the scarcely believable story of how PetroSA effectively gave a little-known company a R933-million cargo of diesel with no contract and no guarantee it would be paid.
Trouble for Mazars over failed PetroSA deals
9 February, 2025
Mazars’ due diligence helped to green light three scandal-plagued deals between PetroSA, Russia’s Gazprombank Africa and notorious wheeler dealer Lawrence Mulaudzi.
PetroSA’s deal with Russia implodes
22 January, 2025
It was Cabinet – not PetroSA – who announced, in December 2023, that Russia’s Gazprombank had been selected to restart Mossel Bay’s gas-to-liquids refinery.
The deal that got PetroSA’s CEO suspended
3 December, 2024
In April this year Xolile Sizani was brought in to save PetroSA, but after just six months as chief executive he was suspended by the board.
Advocacy: AmaBhungane and Open Secrets challenge PetroSA’s diesel contracts secrecy
29 October, 2024
For the past two years, PetroSA – South Africa’s national oil and gas company – has reaped enormous profits from the loadshedding crisis by buying diesel from unknown suppliers and selling it to Eskom at a profit.
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