South Africa’s energy minister David Mahlobo on Tuesday told parliament that the government is looking to its BRICS partners to help build a new 400,000 barrel per day refinery in the southern African nation.
South Africa is at a tipping point regarding its refining capabilities, the minister said.
The cost of the new refinery was estimated at $10 billion in 2010, the official said, adding that the Cabinet expects to decide by December whether to build the refinery that has never come to fruition because of a lack of equity partners.
According to President Jacob Zuma, South Africa is expecting manufacturing projects and foreign direct investments from BRICS countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
South Africa benefited considerably from the exports of primary commodities and intermediate goods to these two economic powerhouses in the BRICS, he added.
The government of South Africa has also engaged the BRICS Think Tank Council in order to identify concrete areas of cooperation that South Africa can take forward during the country’s BRICS presidency in 2018, Zuma said. Enhanced support for the manufacturing sector will be set out in the Industrial Policy Action Plan 2018-2019.