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The Cabinet has welcomed the recommendation of Gazprom Bank Africa as PetroSA's preferred investment partner for its Mossel Bay refinery.
The Minister in the Presidency, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, announced on Monday while briefing the media on the outcome of a special cabinet meeting on Friday to deal with outstanding matters.
She said the Cabinet had received an update on the progress of reinstating the Mossel Bay GTL refinery as one of the critical components of Petro SA's turnaround strategy.
Ntshavheni said the government was also briefed on the process followed by the Central Energy Fund (CEF) to source partners with the requisite technical and financial resources to support PetroSA in bringing the refinery back to full operation.
"The preferred partner will share in the risk and the rewards of the reinstatement of the refinery, which has the potential to retain at least 2000 direct site jobs with additional fixed-term opportunities for 4000 jobs during the construction phase," she said.
Ntshavheni said the cabinet also welcomed the decision to select Gazprom Bank Africa as the investment partner.
"Cabinet noted that this selection of Gazprom Bank Africa is still dependent on the final investment decision that will be informed by a joint-bankable business case as well as the terms and conditions which are anticipated to be finalised in April 2024".
In January PetroSA issued a request for proposals to establish a partnership for the development, refurbishment, modification, upgrade, funding, and/or operation of its gas-to-liquids (GTL) refinery, in Mossel Bay.
This is as the state-owned company announced intentions to reinstate full production at its Mossel Bay operations.
Production was suspended in 2020 due to reported "feedstock challenges".
