Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources Gwede Mantashe says evolving tensions in the Middle East are negatively impacting global oil prices. Oil prices are expected to rise sharply next month due to the regional conflict. He made these remarks in his keynote address at the 5th annual Southern Africa Oil and Gas Conference in Cape Town.
Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources Gwede Mantashe warned of the impact from Israel and America’s war against Iran on oil prices during the conference in Cape Town. He stated the conflict has caused massive shocks to the oil price and could lead to higher prices if Iran closes the route. “If Iran closes the route and no oil can pass through, then we must prepare for higher oil prices. What will help us is understanding that the conflict in the Middle East is affecting the world’s markets, not just us. The question then is: when fuel prices increase substantially, what are we going to do?” he added. The event gathers upstream oil and gas industry stakeholders to identify strategies for accelerating development of existing discoveries and further exploration. Mantashe highlighted South Africa’s significant offshore petroleum potential, including major gas discoveries, hindered by environmental protection protests. “The persistent opposition from the environmental lobby is quite clearly a liability for us in South Africa. We have potential to exploit oil and gas but for every oil and gas project we end up in court. So, it is important for the industry to understand that and work with us on that,” he said. Department Director-General Jacob Mbele discussed a framework to boost petroleum refinery capacity, which could shield the economy from sharp oil price rises. “In the oil price situation, we have been actively engaging with this work. The feedback we received was that there was no need at the time, but this crisis has made all of us realize that what we wanted to do back then is even more necessary now, and we need to move with greater speed,” Mbele said. The department is reforming its legislative framework to advance the petroleum sector.
