Chevron completes maintenance at South African oil refinery

12:00 - 07 May 2015

A worker is pictured atop one of several chimneys at Sydney's Caltex Oil refinery in Kurnell, October 14, 2014, after the completion of shutting down of the refinery and its transition to an oil storage facility. REUTERS/Jason Reed

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - U.S. oil firm Chevron has completed a 1 billion rand ($83 million) routine maintenance and safety inspection at its 100,000 barrel per day South African oil refinery in Cape Town, local media reported on Thursday.

Chevron, which trades as Caltex in South Africa, shut down its Milnerton refinery from Feb. 13 to March 31 for routine maintenance and safety inspections.

Doug Pottenger, general manager at Chevron in Cape Town, told the Cape Argus newspaper the maintenance and inspections were done to upgrade systems and uphold high levels of safety to ensure the refinery was running optimally.

The refinery supplies fuel to all airplanes at the Cape Town International Airport and 95 percent of vehicles on the roads in South Africa's Western Cape province.

($1 = 12.0525 rand)