Director general of Asia, Africa and Oceania at Petroleum Ministry’s department of commercial and international affairs, Soleman Qasemian, made the remarks at the 2nd edition of the International Iran-Africa Economic Conference on 28 April in Tehran, adding estimates show that Africa sits atop 7.2 percent of total hydrocarbon reserves of the world and over the two past years, four African countries including Namibia, Ghana, Angola and South Africa have experienced the highest amount of oil and gas discoveries in the world.

Qasemian said: African oil products and natural gas demand in on the rise, adding the continent’s present oil refining capacity stands at 3.7 million barrels per day which is much lower than total consumption of the products in the continent; a clear sign that we can find a good market for our oil products, especially in the east and south of the continent.

According to him, export of engineering and technical services, export of oil products and liquified petroleum gases and reconstruction of existing oil refineries are the other common grounds for cooperation with the oil sector in Africa.