By Wendell Roelf
CAPE TOWN, July 22 (Reuters) - South Africa's four crude oilrefineries are holding off any resumption of imports from Iran,where sanctions are yet to unravel fully following a nucleardeal between Tehran and the West, operators said on Wednesday.
Before the sanctions, Iran was the biggest oil supplier toSouth Africa, the continent's second-biggest crude consumer,importing around 380,000 barrels per day (bpd) in total. ForeignMinister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane said this month Pretoria waskeen on resuming trade.
At least half of the crude refineries operating in SouthAfrica are units of global oil majors.
"BP complies with sanctions and therefore nothing wouldchange unless sanctions are removed. At the moment the southernAfrican unit is definitely not looking to import Iranian crude,"BP regional spokeswoman Karen Byamugisha said.
Her sentiments were echoed by Shell, which togetherwith BP operates the region's largest refinery, SAPREF, in theeast coast city of Durban. The plant has a design capacity of180,000-190,000 bpd.
"Shell has complied and continues to comply with allrelevant international sanctions. At the same time, strictlywithin the boundaries of the law, we are interested in exploringthe role Shell can play in developing Iran's energy potential,"it said in a statement.
South Africa bought around 68,000 bpd from Iran in May 2012,a month before it halted crude purchases as Western countriespressured Tehran over its nuclear programme. That was well downfrom peak purchases in 2011.
Chevron, which operates a refinery in Cape Town,declined to discuss its plans.
Engen, majority-owned by Malaysian national petroleum firm Petronas, did not respond to questions. Engen, which runs SouthAfrica's oldest refinery, was the single largest importer ofIranian crude to South Africa before sanctions hit in 2012.
Sasol, jointly operating the Natref refinery withTotal, said they had no immediate plans to resumeIranian oil imports.
"Sasol has not imported Iranian crude since 2012 and withcurrent supply channels in place there are no plans at thisstage to import Iranian crude," spokesman Alex Anderson said. (Reporting by Wendell Roelf; Editing by Ed Cropley)
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