TEHRAN- South African Deputy Energy Minister Thembisile Majola says her country is keen to expand relations with Iran in oil and petrochemical industries once sanctions against the Islamic Republic are lifted, according to the Shana News Agency.

Majola made the statement in a meeting with Mansour Mo’azzami, the Iranian deputy oil minister for planning and supervision affairs, in Tehran on Sunday.

The African official said her country is ready to cooperate with Iran in the implementation of refining projects, purchase of petrochemical products, transfer of gas to liquids (GTL) technology, and also resumption of crude oil imports from the Islamic Republic.  

South Africa is also willing to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Iran, she added.

Majola conditioned increase in South Africa’s purchase of crude oil from Iran on lifting of the West-led sanctions against the country.

Iran was the major exporter of crude oil to South Africa before the sanctions. The African country imported about 380,000 barrels of oil per day from Iran in the pre-sanction era.

South Africa was the first leading importer of Iran’s crude oil in Africa and ninth in the world, before the West imposed sanctions on Iran’s economy. 

In a meeting with South African Energy Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson in Tehran on April 28, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said Iran-South Africa oil ties will be expanded in the post-sanction era.

Joemat-Pettersson, for her part, said South Africa is seeking to sign a comprehensive agreement with Iran in the field of energy.

MA/