South Africa, Venezuela sign oil deals
Tue, 02 Sep 2008 21:14:05 GMT
South Africa and Venezuela have signed several oil and gas agreements in a new cooperation, South African President Thabo Mbeki says.
Mbeki also said at a news conference on Tuesday that South Africa's PetroSA state oil company would look for oil in new Venezuelan oil fields.
No details of the deals were immediately available, but they were possibly to include plans for Venezuela to supply crude at preferential rates to PetroSA, AP reported.
Mbeki refused to say if South Africa would get preferential rates from Venezuela, but said 'the object is to assist in reducing the costs of energy'.
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez said, "It will be a wonderful day, the day when the first Venezuelan tanker will stop by to leave oil for South Africa."
In his first visit to South Africa, Chavez invited the PetroSA company to start working together in exploring for and pumping crude in the oil-rich Orinoco River belt.
Chavez also urged southern nations to unite to move away from US hegemony by getting behind a 'new strategic agenda, to conduct a true strategic change in international relations'.
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