(Ecofin Agency) - South Africa is considering building an oil refinery that will process Iranian crude to boost its petrol supply and reduce its dependence on foreign companies, according to a government official.

Plans for the new refinery were being conceived; the deputy director general for petroleum and petroleum products regulation at the energy ministry, Tseliso Maqubela (photo) said adding that he could not give an estimate on the cost or time frame for construction.

Pretoria has said it will resume oil imports from Tehran "tomorrow" if sanctions are lifted, nevertheless without its own refinery, it would have to rely on foreign oil companies who own refineries in Africa's most developed economy. Before the sanctions, Iran was the biggest oil supplier to South Africa, the continent's second-biggest crude consumer, importing around 380,000 bpd. Iran and the ruling African National Congress (ANC) share strong diplomatic relations, with Tehran backing the party that helped liberate South Africa from white minority rule.

"There are benefits to owning a refinery, basically the profits are re-invested in the country and outflows can be controlled," Maqubela told Engineeringnews. "But most importantly you are able to protect your own sovereignty...we could not bring Iranian crude oil during the sanctions, even though the U.S. gave us an exception, because we did not have a facility where the crude could be refined."

South African refineries were designed to refine Iranian crude but were refitted to process other types of oil after the sanctions.

Recently Deputy Energy Minister Thembisile Majola said that South Africa was considering using Iranian oil for its new refinery which will add to the existing gas-to-liquid plant run by State-owned PetroSA.

However Maqubela noted that the energy ministry was considering using a refinery planned, but not yet built, by PetroSA in the industrial port of Coega but that the eventual refinery may take another form and name or be located in a different region. South Africa's blueprint for growth and development, which was launched in 2012, gives the government until 2017 to develop new refinery plans in order to cope with growing fuel demands.