South Africa’s hopes of importing oil from Iran have taken a giant leap forward after international sanctions against the Middle Eastern country were lifted this weekend.
Iran will now be able to export oil, reports news agency, CNBC, citing Manaar Energy head of consulting, Robin Mills, as saying: "I think Iran will return to the market as fast as they reasonably can - they need the revenues.”
Iran was once South Africa’s biggest oil supplier, exporting about 380 000 barrels a day. Last year the deputy energy minister, Thembisile Majola, was cited by Reuters news agency as saying that South Africa was planning to build a crude oil refinery, which would use Iranian crude and add to the existing state-owned PetroSA gas-to-liquid plant in Mossel Bay.
