Extinction Rebellion Cape Town staged a protest outside the Africa Oil Week at the Cape Town International Convention Centre to oppose the government’s push to develop more fossil fuels. Photo: Ashraf Hendricks
- The processes for dealing with environmental challenges to oil and gas exploration should be speeded up, government agencies argued at Africa Oil Week in Cape Town.
- Applications to explore for oil and gas offshore by energy giants such as TotalEnergies have been opposed by environmental groups.
- Petroleum Agency of South Africa (PASA) chief executive Tshepo Mokoka said a tribunal or court could be set up to deal with these challenges.
Opposition to oil and gas exploration was at the forefront of discussions at Africa Oil Week in Cape Town on Tuesday, with government agencies arguing that processes should be put in place to deal with challenges faster.
In a panel discussion between the Petroleum Agency of South Africa (PASA), PetroSA, the Central Energy Fund, and the Strategic Fuel Fund, PASA acting chief executive Tshepo Mokoka, said the agency estimated South Africa’s exploration opportunities at about 27 billion barrels of oil, 60 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of offshore natural gas resources, and 200 tcf of onshore gas. PASA promotes exploration and development of onshore and offshore oil and gas resources on behalf of the government.
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