JOHANNESBURG 

South Africa has chosen Russia’s Gazprombank as an investment partner to help national oil company PetroSA restart its gas-to-liquid (GTL) refinery at Mossel Bay. 

Communication and Digital Technologies Minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni told the press Wednesday that an agreement has been reached with the bank on the $265 million GTL facility project, which involves refurbishing and recommissioning the refinery.

The mothballed 45,000-barrel-per-day GTL refinery has been under maintenance since 2020 due to limited offshore gas resources.

However, the platform is linked by a pipeline directly to Mossel Bay, which could accelerate potential gas supplies from a field owned by TotalEnergies.

Ntshavheni said the agreement with Gazprombank is part of a promise to increase trade and investment within the BRICS bloc of developing nations, which besides South Africa include Brazil, Russia, India and China.

She added that they do not believe the agreement will contravene Western sanctions against the bank.

The bank, which has been under US sanctions since early 2022 over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, won the contract after 19 other bidders were disqualified on technical grounds.

*Writing by Merve Berker