The Democratic Alliance (DA) has called for Minister Mantashe and PetroSA to explain the collapse of the Gazprombank deal and outline an alternative financing plan for PetroSA’s Mossel Bay Refinery.
The collapse of the Gazprombank deal with PetroSA, South Africa’s state-owned oil company, stems from a series of financial and logistical failures that unravelled a R3.7 billion plan to revive the Mossel Bay gas-to-liquids refinery.
Initially endorsed by the South African Cabinet in December 2023, the partnership with Gazprombank Africa, a subsidiary of the sanctioned Russian bank, aimed to refurbish the dormant facility, which has been offline since 2020 due to depleted feedstock.
The DA's Sphesihle Zondi said in a statement on Tuesday that the organisation has written to the chairperson of Parliament’s Mineral and Petroleum Resources Portfolio Committee to summon Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources Gwede Mantashe and PetroSA before the committee to explain the collapse of the Gazprombank deal and to provide a clear pathway forward for PetroSA’s Mossel Bay Refinery to be financed by an alternative financier.
"From the start, the DA slammed this deal with Gazprombank as an ill-conceived and unreliable plan whilst Russia faces international sanctions for its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. It has now proved true that this deal with the Russian State Bank should never have been relied upon by Minister Mantashe," he said.
Zondi said Mantashe and PetroSA are gambling with the country’s energy security, and Parliament must hold them accountable. Furthermore, he said, the failed deal with Gazprombank Africa, from December 2023, should have funded a resuscitation of the Mossel Bay gas-to-liquid refinery, securing reliable natural gas production as part of South Africa’s energy mix.
"The Minister has serious questions to answer, including how much state resources he wasted on negotiating and finalising this failed deal," he said.
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