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Johannesburg - PetroSA has reacted to a Sunday newspaper report that "insinuates" that PetroSA knowingly "dished out oil deals" to a consortium partly owned by foreign businessmen accused of being fronts for Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe.
PetroSA said in a statement would it would like to place it on
record that in 2004 it concluded a tender wherein Mesa Energy, a
majority-owned South African company, was contracted to supply PetroSA with gas condensate.
At the time three separate South African companies owned 51% of Mesa Energy. A Mauritian-registered company Pegasus Energy (Ltd) owned the remaining 49%.
A due diligence to verify the legal and BEE status of Mesa Energy
was conducted in accordance with PetroSA's policies. The decision to award Mesa Energy this highly competitive tender, was based on PetroSA's stringent selection criteria, which considered factors such as pricing, BEE participation levels, and the ability to introduce various condensate grades.
"It is also true that in January 2008, PetroSA purchased a spot
cargo of Reformate from MESA Energy."
Throughout these transactions PetroSA had conducted itself with
professional integrity, putting at the forefront the best interests of South Africa.
At no time before or after the two deals, was PetroSA ever informed of any allegations of impropriety concerning Mesa Energy or any of its partners, the statement said.
It was therefore mischievous of the newspaper to insinuate that
PetroSA knowingly conducted business in defiance of United Nations resolutions or sanctions.
"A fact is that PetroSA, in good faith, concluded two deals with
Mesa Energy. Both deals were conducted in full compliance with
PetroSA's internal processes which are aligned with the PFMA Act."
Mesa Energy was a majority-owned South African company.
"This deal not only ensured that we were furthering our mandate of securing the supply of petroleum for our country, but also advancing the goals of black economic empowerment."
As a custodian of the Republic of South Africa's oil and gas
interests, PetroSA had a responsibility to conduct itself in a mannerthat brought honour and admiration "to the people of our country.
"We will not pull any stops in our quest to advance this
responsibility.
Sensationalistic headlines and baseless journalistic accusations
might help sell newspapers, but they can cause undue damage to the reputations of innocent companies and individuals and do not advance the cause of building and growing our democracy.
"They may well demand appropriate legal action."