"South Africa is interested in boosting refinery cooperation with Iran by importing LNG cargoes from the country because gas is highly prioritized in Pretoria's energy mix," Majola said following a Saturday meeting with Iran's deputy petroleum minister for planning and supervision on hydrocarbon resources, Mansour Moazzami, here in Tehran.
She said her country would also welcome crude oil purchases from Iran for feeding its refineries and would engage in partnerships for construction of new refineries in Iran once western sanctions on the country are lifted following a nuclear deal reached between Tehran and world powers in Vienna in July.
A majority of South African oil refineries are being run by international oil giants like France's Total, US's Chevron and Royal Dutch Shell, she said, adding the companies stopped buying Iranian crude oil following the sanctions.
"We can talk them into buying oil from Tehran after the sanctions are removed," Majola said.
Some of these companies sought to supply their needs for crude oil from other suppliers in the market and in some instances modified their facilities so they could be run with new grades of crude oil, she said.
"I think the removal of sanctions is the first and most important matter we should be waiting for with regard to cooperation with Iran," she added.
"We believe that Iran, like any other country in the world, is entitled to enjoying peaceful nuclear energy, therefore we are anxiously anticipating the removal of sanctions on Tehran so we can restore our energy ties with the country which have wilted under the sanctions."
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