PetroSA (Petroleum, Oil and Gas Corporation of South Africa) is South Africa's national oil and gas company, headquartered in Cape Town with its main asset being the GTL (Gas-to-Liquids) refinery in Mossel Bay. Originally built as the apartheid-era Mossgas project to convert offshore natural gas into synthetic fuels, PetroSA was established in 2002 through the consolidation of Soekor, Mossgas, and parts of the Strategic Fuel Fund.
By the mid-2000s, it became clear that the FA-EM offshore gas fields supplying the Mossel Bay refinery were depleting faster than expected. PetroSA needed alternative feedstock to keep the refinery operational. This feedstock crisis became the catalyst for corruption and financial destruction on a massive scale.
PetroSA pursued multiple options with diminishing returns: Project iGas (limited success finding new offshore gas), emergency condensate purchases at inflated prices, and international gas deals including controversial transactions in Ghana (Jubilee gas field), Equatorial Guinea, and other African countries. These procurement efforts were characterised by deals concluded without proper processes, inflated prices, allegations of kickbacks, and billions spent with diminishing returns.
"Operation Mango" was the code name associated with internal investigations into procurement corruption at PetroSA. While less publicly documented than Zondo Commission cases, key elements included irregularities in feedstock procurement contracts, allegations of corruption in the Ghana gas deal, irregular appointment of service providers, and retaliation against internal whistleblowers.
During the Zuma era, PetroSA's board was reconstituted with politically aligned appointees following the pattern at other SOEs. Experienced board members were replaced, CEO appointments were influenced by political considerations, and strategic decisions served political rather than commercial objectives.
The proposed Project Mthombo — a massive new refinery at Coega in the Eastern Cape with an estimated cost of R80-100 billion — was announced but never materialised, with billions spent on pre-project activities that yielded nothing.
The cumulative financial destruction is staggering: R15+ billion in GTL feedstock crisis losses, billions on failed exploration, billions on Project Mthombo pre-costs for a refinery never built, and hundreds of millions annually in irregular expenditure documented in AG reports. PetroSA went from a profitable entity to one requiring government support.
The Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources and Energy conducted multiple hearings revealing massive unaccounted expenditure, board dysfunction, and inability to account for feedstock procurement spending. The Auditor-General issued multiple qualified audits documenting ongoing irregular expenditure.