South Africa is interested in expanding trade with Russia, including the potential import of LNG, Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Gwede Mantashe said on Thursday during budget hearings for his ministry in parliament.
"I don’t think we are ashamed of importing gas from Russia. We are members of BRICS. We want to increase trade with Russia," he underlined.
Russian gas could be supplied to the refinery of the South African company PetroSA in the city of Mossel Bay in the south of the country, local broadcaster SABC reported.
"MK party talks about refining at PetroSA and business with Russia. I want to remind my comrades that in the years that somebody was leading the ANC, PetroSA was stripped to nothing. That is asset stripping by a leader that we know. That leader that we know stripped PetroSA to nothing," Mantashe told the parliament.
In December 2023, the South African government gave the green light to the African division of Russian Gazprombank—Gazprombank Africa—as a partner for modernizing the refinery, which ceased operations in 2020. Gazprombank secured an international tender for the Mossel Bay refinery upgrade by proposing the most efficient investment plan, evaluated at 3.7 billion rand ($204 million).
The South African authorities have identified the rapid recommissioning of the Mossel Bay refinery as a top priority for the national energy sector. Currently, South Africa lacks any major natural gas fields under development and largely relies on imports from Mozambique and Qatar. The government, however, plans to transition a significant number of existing coal-fired power plants to gas, which will greatly amplify the country's gas demand.