South Africa has no plans to curb its oil and gas operations in favour of a green transition just yet, as the government announces big plans to boost oil and gas exploration activities in the coming years. This is part of its aim to improve its energy security and reduce the country’s reliance on foreign imports. As such, the government recently approved new drilling activities by France’s TotalEnergies, aiming to make significant new discoveries to support longer-term oil and gas production.
However, the caveat is that we should not rush to export gas to Europe at the expense of our own domestic and regional markets, no matter how tempting the prospects of earning foreign revenue.” South Africa’s revised Upstream Petroleum Development Bill is expected to make it easier for oil and gas companies to gain approval for new projects. This means that the upstream sector is no longer managed by the 2002 Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act.