South Africa is in talks with China’s Sinopec over retaining production capacity following the firm’s takeover of Chevron’s Cape Town refinery.
Sinopec are expected to pay nearly $1billion for the 75% stake in the American supermajor’s South African and Botswana assets.
But Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel said it is crucial that industrial capability is retained and enhanced.
South Africa is notoriously slow at approving takeovers due to regulatory redtape over safeguarding jobs and competition law.