Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe on Tuesday said South Africa would need to explore and find its own oil reserves if it wanted to mitigate against rising fuel costs.
The minister also said the country needed to grow its fuel refinery capacity as the world struggled with rising prices.
Mantashe and the National Treasury were briefing Parliament on the rising fuel costs as well as the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy said a number of factors determined the fuel prices, including international crude oil prices and geopolitics.
MPs also asked the department and Mantashe how government can limit its exposure to rising fuel costs.
“And there’s a question that was asked, how do we limit vulnerability? There are two things that I think we should investigate: one is an exploration and that’s going to discover our own oil and gas.”
The department said imposing sanctions against Russia, the world’s third-largest oil producer, was bound to have consequences.
It said fuel prices were a global issue and no country would be left unaffected.
-EWN
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