South Africa, Russia explore energy ties

South Africa is considering helping Russian state oil firm Rosneft and gas giant Gazprom in making liquid fuel from natural gas or coal, a cabinet minister said on Monday.

South Africa’s Mining and Energy Minister Buyelwa Sonjica said that PetroSA officials would hold technical talks on its gas-to-liquid (GTL) technology with the two Russian firms, which are in the early stages of exploring synthetic fuel production.
Sonjica also said South Africa and Russia will in July sign a landmark nuclear energy agreement that would see Russia sell processed uranium to South Africa.

The deal may also include the possibility of having some of the uranium processed in South Africa and sold internationally.

“We are talking about low-enriched uranium for energy production, and we are yet to specify the quantities and other details,” Sonjica said.

Russia has said it is ready to help build new nuclear power stations in South Africa and join ventures to mine uranium for the world market. The two countries have previously mentioned plans to cooperate in selling processed uranium internationally.

Finance24