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Johannesburg - South African crude oil imports from Iran
rose to R3.37bn in March from R2.8bn the previous month, customs data showed on
Monday, indicating Pretoria had not bowed to US pressure to curb commercial
links with Tehran.
The SA Revenue Service said Africa's biggest economy imported
505 908 tonnes of Iranian crude in March, up from 417 188 tonnes the previous
month.
South Africa has come under Western pressure to cut Iranian
crude imports as part of sanctions designed to halt Tehran's suspected pursuit
of nuclear weapons, but the response from diplomatically non-aligned Pretoria
has been unclear.
South Africa could take an economic hit if it does not
comply. Its Iranian crude imports declined between October and January, when
they reached zero, but began rising again in February.
Neither the foreign ministry nor the department of energy
were willing to comment.
It is also not clear who bought the crude after almost all
South African refiners said in recent months that they had already found
alternative suppliers.
Senior energy and foreign ministry officials contradicted
each other in March as to the status of Iranian imports. Until late last year,
Iran was typically South Africa's biggest crude supplier, accounting for a
quarter of its oil imports.
According to the March data, crude imports totalled 1.6
million tonnes, with Nigeria supplying 38%, Iran 32%, Saudi Arabia 22% and
Angola the rest.
The biggest South African buyer of Iranian crude used to be
Engen, which is majority-owned by Malaysian state oil group Petronas, but the group
said in April it had halted all imports of Iranian oil.
Petrochemicals group Sasol [JSE:SOL], which took 12 000
barrels of Iranian oil a day, also said it had found new suppliers but has not
named them.
Other refiners in South Africa include BP, Shell, Total and
Chevron. BP and Chevron said in February they were not sourcing any Iranian
crude.
Some South African refineries are designed to treat
Iranian-type crude only, and refiners would be hard-pressed to replace those
supplies with other products.
Any disruption in crude imports could hit fuel supplies in South Africa, which have already been volatile because of strikes and refinery problems.
