{"id":479309,"date":"2026-03-16T22:38:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T22:38:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/479309\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T22:38:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T22:38:11","slug":"south-africa-races-to-secure-new-energy-suppliers-as-war-in-the-middle-east-persists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/479309\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa races to secure new energy suppliers as war in the Middle East persists"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n South Africa<\/a> has disclosed that it is looking for more energy suppliers, given the disruption of energy products brought on by the war between the United States and Israel vs Iran.\n <\/p>\n

\n The interruption of fuel imports originating from the Middle East constitutes the most significant energy risk to South Africa, as reported by Bloomberg<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

\n Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources Gwede Mantashe revealed at a conference in Cape Town on Monday that the current administration of the country, under its president, Cyril Ramaphosa, is in discussions to uncover additional supply partners after the fighting cut trade from the vital Strait of Hormuz to a trickle.\n <\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

\n \u201cFor refined products, we rely on the Middle East,\u201d he said, adding that disruption to fuel shipments is the \u201cbiggest threat\u201d to the country.\n <\/p>\n

\n South Africa has experienced a reduction of half of its refining capacity in recent years, primarily attributed to plant closures resulting from operational incidents and insufficient capital.\n <\/p>\n

\n As its reliance on imports increases, South Africa’s principal suppliers of diesel are identified as Oman, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates.\n <\/p>\n

\n South Africa is hardly the only country reeling from the effects of the war in the Middle East.\n <\/p>\n

Effects of Iran’s war in Africa<\/p>\n

\n Currently, African economies are being rocked by a spike in global oil prices, which, as of today, hit $105 per barrel, brought on by the intensifying Iranian crisis.\n <\/p>\n

\n This raises the possibility of increased fuel prices, rising inflation, and fresh pressure on the continent’s already vulnerable currencies.\n <\/p>\n

\n Most African countries rely significantly on imported petroleum products, despite the fact that some produce crude oil, leaving their economy vulnerable to interruptions in global supply chains, notably those linked to the Middle East, which remains essential to global energy flow<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

\n According to Nick Hedley, an analyst at Zero Carbon Analytics, the continent’s structural reliance on imported fuels makes it especially vulnerable to global energy disruptions.\n <\/p>\n

\n This issue constitutes a complex challenge that may be somewhat difficult to address with conventional solutions.\n <\/p>\n

\n For example, Nigeria, which is Africa\u2019s largest oil producer and also boasts the world\u2019s largest single train refinery<\/a>, both of which should typically be buffers against such global energy shocks, saw its fuel price increase significantly.\n <\/p>\n

\"Dangote <\/p>\n

\n In North Africa, the effects of the war are evident in countries like Egypt<\/a>, and even East Africa is not spared, as earlier reports showed that Kenyan authorities were closely tracking a fuel tanker expected to load in the Red Sea with petroleum products from the Middle East that are critical to the country\u2019s economy.\n <\/p>\n

\n Much like South Africa, Kenya<\/a> relies heavily on imported refined petroleum products sourced largely from the Middle East under government-to-government supply agreements with national oil companies in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.\n <\/p>\n

\n As a result, they are set to face similar challenges, and by extension, look for similar initiatives.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"South Africa has disclosed that it is looking for more energy suppliers, given the disruption of energy products…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":479310,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[84,1294,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-479309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=479309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/479310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=479309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=479309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=479309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}