Following a period of relative inactivity in offshore oil and gas exploration, the Petroleum Agency South Africa has announced that it is reviewing a number of offshore oil and gas exploration applications.

The most notable exploration right application was submitted very recently by Bayfield Energy to explore the northern sector of the Pletmos basin on South Africa's southern coast.

Addressing delegates attending the Oil and Gas 2010 conference in Cape Town on Tuesday, Petroleum Agency South Africa CEO Mthozami Xiphu said that it was currently in negotiations with Bayfield about the granting of the right.

"Our own geologists have identified prospectivity for relatively large volumes of gas in this area, and this is the intended target of Bayfield's exploration," elaborated Xiphu.

Bayfield Energy is a British exploration company that operates in the Trintes Field of Trinidad.

This announcement comes days after president Jacob Zuma's State visit to the UK where he promoted South Africa as an "excellent destination" for investment, particularly in the energy sector.

In addition to Bayfield Energy's application, Xiphu stated that the agency had also accepted an application for an exploration right from Singapore's Silver Wave Energy for offshore blocks between Durban and Port Shepstone.

"On the granting of an exploration right, exploration here is expected to commence with the acquisition of further 2-D seismic data," added Xiphu.

The 2009 licence round also attracted a bid from Shell International Exploration and Production.

Xiphu said that the Petroleum Agency of South Africa had accepted Shell's application for an exploration right over the Deep Western basin, where water depths start at 1 000 m.

"We are now taking the application through the processes required to grant a right," stated Xiphu.