South Africa Seeks to Resume Iran Oil Imports
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – South Africa is looking to resume oil imports from Iran, once its biggest supplier of crude, and hopes to resolve "sanction issues" that have blocked purchases within the next three months, its deputy foreign minister said on Tuesday.
The announcement by deputy South African foreign minister Nomaindiya Mfeketo came after more than a day of talks in Pretoria with her Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, Reuters reported.
South Africa halted crude purchases from Iran in June 2012 because of Western pressure.
The African country bought around 68,000 barrels of oil per day from Iran in the month before exports halted, around a quarter of its crude oil needs.
With 137.6 billion barrels of proven reserves, Iran has the world's fourth largest crude deposits.
The United States and its European allies have imposed sanctions targeting Iran’s energy sector to pile up pressure on Tehran over its peaceful nuclear energy program.
Back in December 2013, Iran’s oil minister announced that the country’s crude exports could reach the pre-sanctions level in a few months.
“I hereby announce that after the Geneva (nuclear) meeting the Iranian oil industry has been preparing itself for full return to the oil markets,” Zanganeh said on the sidelines of the 164th ministerial meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in Vienna.
Iran and six world powers reached a breakthrough deal on November 24, 2013, in Geneva. Under the interim deal with the US, Russia, France, Britain, China and Germany, Iran agreed to limit uranium enrichment in exchange for minor relief from western sanctions.
The agreement took effect on January 20 and expired six months later on July 20.
In July, the two sides agreed on the extension of their discussions until November 24 in an effort to achieve a permanent nuclear deal to settle a decade-long standoff on Iran’s peaceful nuclear energy program.