AIA Insights · Flagship Outlook · Rung 2

The SACU Liquid
Fuels Outlook

Where Southern Africa’s fuel demand goes to 2050 — and what to do about it. The model-backed view, threaded across the technical, economic and political forces that actually move it.

Demand peaks, then fades. The fuel that grows… until it doesn’t. The timing is the whole investment case.
Format
Outlook + model + memo
Cadence
Annual, quarterly refresh
Coverage
SACU, to 2050
Engine
AIA Liquid Fuels Model
What it’s for
The decision on the table
“Do we put capital into refining, import infrastructure or storage — and when — if the demand we’re building for is going to peak and fade?”

A demand number alone won’t answer that. You need the engineering reality of the supply system, the economics of a peaking market, and the politics of the tariff and transition — threaded into one call. That is the Outlook.

The headline call

The fuel that peaks, then fades.

Liquid-fuels demand across SACU keeps rising through the late 2020s — then crests and declines as efficiency, electrification and the energy transition bite. The peak is not the risk. The fade is.

An asset sized for a plateau that never arrives is stranded. The Outlook puts a defensible date and shape on the curve — so capital commits to the window that’s actually there, not the one the headline demand growth implies.

SACU liquid-fuels demand · index · illustrative
Peak ~mid-2030s 2025 2035 2050 the fade
What’s inside

Six parts, one decision.

Not a data dump — a structured path from the numbers to a call you can defend.

01

The Decision View

The verdict up front — act, wait, hedge or phase, and by when. The one page your board reads first.

02

Demand to 2050

The modelled curve by product and market — where it grows, where it peaks, and the shape of the fade.

03

Supply & infrastructure

Refining decline, import dependence and the storage and logistics that become the binding constraint.

04

The three reads

Technical, economic and political — each a chapter, then woven into the synthesis that drives the verdict.

05

Scenarios

The branches that matter — tariff reform, transition pace, refinery exits — and how each moves the call.

06

Governed assumptions

Every input vintaged and sourced in the Assumptions Registry — the numbers that survive challenge.

What you get

Three artifacts and a heartbeat.

The Outlook

The full report — reads, scenarios, the call.

The model

The interactive demand & supply engine behind it.

The decision memo

One page, board-ready — the verdict and why.

Quarterly refresh

The call, kept current as the assumptions move.

Who it’s for

Anyone sizing capital against the fuel curve.

Operators & refiners

Weighing refining, conversion or exit against a peaking demand base.

Investors & lenders

Pricing stranding risk on fuel-infrastructure exposure to 2050.

Import & storage players

Sizing terminals and storage to the window that’s actually there.

Built to survive challenge. Every figure in the Outlook traces to a governed, vintaged assumption in the Assumptions Registry — so the number holds up in the boardroom, not just on the page.

Get the SACU Liquid Fuels Outlook Rung 2

Tell us the decision you’re weighing and we’ll send scope, sample and pricing. Or start free at rung one with the Weekly Pulse.

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