An unplanned outage at a local oil refinery has disrupted the supply of fuel to some service stations in Cape Town.

Oil giant BP South Africa has confirmed that it’s experiencing a fuel shortage as a result. It comes as motorists reported being turned away from service stations in various areas, including Strandfontein, Mitchells Plain, and Green Point.

It says to mitigate the unforeseen challenge, BP diverted a Mogas unleaded petrol import vessel, which was destined for Durban, to Cape Town to ensure the security of supply.

But the vessel was hit by a delay due to the inclement weather conditions since Saturday.