The South African Petroleum Industry Association (SAPIA) has appointed its 20^th oil company leader to chair the industry association.

Bonang Mohale, Chairman of Shell South Africa, has been elected chairman of SAPIA for 2014 succeeding Christian des Closières, CEO and MD of Total South Africa. This was done as part of a mandate that the SAPIA Board of Governors – which comprises of member companies – elect a new chairperson every year.

The appointment of Mohale coincides with both the 20th anniversary of SAPIA and South Africa’s democracy. The association was established in 1994 under the auspices of former president Nelson Mandela to usher South Africa’s vital petroleum industry into a new democratic era. This enabled fuel companies to play a better strategic role in addressing a range of issues relating to the refining, distribution and marketing of petroleum products, as well as promoting the industry’s environmental and socio-economic progress.

Says Mohale, “It is a great honour to be elected as the Chairperson of SAPIA. I look forward to working closely with industry members and all our stakeholders to achieve the industry goals for 2014.”

“Some of the challenges the industry will face this year include the finalisation of the clean fuels cost recovery model, clarity on the implementation of biofuels pricing mechanism, publishing of the 20 year liquid fuels infrastructure roadmap, security of fuel supply and changes to the transformation framework.”