PRETORIA (Reuters) – Iran will submit a proposal to use South Africa's crude oil storage facilities in Saldanha Bay, resurrecting a plan shelved several years ago, the two sides announced on Tuesday.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Tehran believed Saldanha Bay, with its 45-million-barrel capacity, could open new markets in Africa for Iranian oil exports.

"We believe that South Africa can act as a gate for the export of Iranian petrochemicals to the countries of southern Africa," Mottaki told a news conference at the end of two days of talks with South African officials.

A joint communiqué said Iran would submit a proposal to use Saldanha following a request by South Africa's state-owned PetroSA, which owns the facility.

A source at PetroSA said it would welcome further Iranian interest although Saldanha's tanks were now fully booked.

"PetroSA markets Saldanha storage to all companies. We had discussions (before), but the market conditions were not favorable. We are happy that the Iranians see the market has improved, so we would welcome the proposal," the source said

Proposals were floated in 1995 for Iran to store about 15 million barrels of oil at Saldanha on the west coast, north of Cape Town, but talks foundered in part on public concern that increased tanker traffic could harm the environment.

Agreements reached on Tuesday included plans for the National Iranian Oil Company to train South Africans in upstream and downstream petrochemical technology.

South Africa's petrochemicals group Sasol said on Monday it was talking with Iran about building a gas-to-liquids (GTL) fuel plant in that country.

Sasol said it had been evaluating a GTL opportunity with the National Petroleum Company (NPC) of Iran, but no investment decision had been made yet.

"Sasol is not progressing a feasibility study on the potential GTL project, although this may change," Sasol said.