Iran, South Africa to Sign Energy MoU

Iran’s petroleum minister said he expects the country to sign an energy MoU with South Africa.

Bijan Zangeneh, after a meeting with Tina Joemat-Pettersson, his South African counterpart, expressed hope that the two countries will sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU).

“It is expected that the two countries will sign an MoU on Sunday (April 24),” said Zanganeh.

He said that considering the South African president’s visit to Iran, it is expected that the MoU will be signed in a ceremony attended by the presidents of the two countries.

He pointed out that Iran supplied 40 percent of South Africa’s crude oil imports before sanctions and said “During the sanctions these imports were halted and now we are trying to resume the shipments”.

“Now the price is the main issue and Iran had said that we only accept the competitive prices of the market,” he added.

He also said that Iran was invited to invest in building a refinery in South Africa and said “We urged them to provide their offer and in turn, invited them to continue their investment in Iran’s refining and petrochemical sectors as before.”