That is the view of deputy Minister of Mineral Resources Godfrey Oliphant, accompanying Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa on a tour of one of Cuba's three gas treatment and power generation facilities.
The South African delegation was carefully walked through the energy mix in Cuba that has seen major strides in the islands power generation capacity in recent years.
At a facility that converts raw gas into power and feeds it into the national grid.
The Boca de Jaruco processing plant, about 50 kilometers outside of Havana, is one of three gas facilities in Cuba - part of a joint venture with Canada's Sherrit International -that generates over 300 megawatt into the island's national grid.
Godfrey Oliphant says:"What we are picking up here is that they have a variety of gas (electricity) generation commodities, gas being one of them so that it one of the areas that we are exploring in South Africa, very seriously."
"With Cuba, the blockade has not allowed them the growth but once that growth comes they'll face the same problems, so our advice to them is to ensure that they move with the economic growth as well and that is how we learn and teach each other."
As moves are underway globally to move away from energy sources that causes greater levels of harm to the environment, South Africa is one of the countries that showed great initiative to implement necessary requirements.
Gas to power generation currently contributes almost 12% of Cuba's electricity needs.
The bulk of South Africa's energy generation still comes from coal but moves are afoot for a Gas-to-Power programme to procure over 3000 megawatts of gas-fired power generation for the country.
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