High Court rules in favour of Sasol Oil against Nersa’s pipeline tariffs

Court sets aside decision by Nersa to approve pipeline tariffs for 2023/24 financial year

- BANELE GININDZA

THE Gauteng High Court in Pretoria has ruled in favour of Sasol Oil, setting aside a decision by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) to approve petroleum pipeline tariffs for the 2023/24 financial year.

Judge D. Makhoba found that Nersa acted unreasonably and irrationally when it imposed a uniform tariff across Transnet’s crude oil and multi-product pipelines, despite their significant cost and operational differences.

Nersa had approved the tariffs on 23 February 2023, relying on a “rolled-in” tariff methodology adopted in 2011, which treats the entire network as a single system.

Sasol challenged the decision under the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act (PAJA), arguing that the approach unfairly disadvantaged users of the crude oil pipeline (COP).

Sasol argued that its submissions were disregarded, and that the adoption of the 2011 rolled-in methodology was inappropriate for the 2023/24 tariff determination.