A joint venture between Shell SA Refining and BP Southern Africa, SAPREF is Southern Africas largest crude oil refinery, with a refining capacity of 8 5 million tons a year The refinery has been in operation for 52 years Building work on the SAPREF refinery started in 1960 and the first staff members were employed in June 1963 br SAPREFs facilities are of national strategic importance They include the refinery in the South Durban Basin SDB , storage facilities at the harbour Island View , a Single Buoy Mooring SBM where tankers offload about 80 of South Africas crude oil imports and joint bunkering services operated on behalf of various petroleum companies br We manufacture a variety of petroleum products, including pe