Zuma says oil refinery to boost South Africa's image

A planned crude oil refinery will showcase South Africa's competitive ability to its counterparts globally, which is important for its image as a country, South African President Jacob Zuma said on Thursday.

Once completed, the refinery in the Coega Industrial Development Zone near Port Elizabeth in South Africa's Eastern Cape province would be the biggest in Africa.

The South African Press Association (SAPA) reported that Zuma was visiting to Petro South Africa's gas liquid refinery in Mossel Bay.

He said the refinery will save South Africa about 12.6 billion rands (1.8 billion U.S. dollars) a year in energy costs.

"This country stands to save... once the refinery is running, and could export oil across Africa," Zuma said.

The project, expected to be built by 2015, would also help South Africa escape from the current dependency trap where refined automotive products have to be imported, he said.

"We welcome the fact that PetroSA is making its impact, not only in job creation but in empowering the people as well. It employs close to 2,000 people, while 27,500 more will be absorbed within the crude oil refinery that is planned," he said.

The South African president praised PetroSA for its impressive growth since its successful merger of Mossgas, Soekor and parts of the Strategic Fuel Fund in 2002.

He noted that the company supplies about 7 percent of South Africa's liquid fuel needs. This will lessen South Africa's dependence on foreign sources of fuel, Zuma said.

PetroSA is reaching markets in Europe, the United States, the Caribbean, Middle East and the Far East, which Zuma said is an important achievement.

Source: Xinhua