Mantashe backs oil, gas hunt despite opposition
South Africa’s energy minister is adamant that the nation must forge ahead with offshore oil and gas exploration, despite recent legal setbacks to the development of the resources.
Environmental and community organizations have sued companies including Shell over recent months, winning temporary interdicts that caused the searches to be called off. They’ve argued that seismic surveys are harmful to marine life and criticized the process used to consult those who potentially could be affected by the work.
Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Gwede Mantashe, who accuses the groups of deterring investment, said he has been meeting with traditional leaders and residents of the Eastern Cape province to discuss the hunt for the oil and gas -- which has to continue.
“Exploration and development cannot be the end,” he said in a video released by his department on Monday. “We must pursue it until it happens.”
Mantashe’s pro-fossil-fuels stance runs counter to that of other top government officials, who are pressing for a quicker move toward cleaner sources of energy. The planned transition includes the use of gas, which along with oil is primarily imported by the nation.
Oil discoveries have been made in recent weeks just over the maritime border shared with Namibia, while some exploration work is still planned in nearby South African waters.
“The recent oil discoveries in Namibia are a massively welcome impetus for development in that country, but also for us on the tip of the continent, and the region,” Mantashe said in a Twitter posting last week.
Comments
Research Reports
Projects
Latest Multimedia
Latest News
Showroom
Our Easy Access Chute concept was developed to reduce the risks related to liner maintenance. Currently, replacing wear liners require that...
VISIT SHOWROOM
For over 60 years, VEGA has provided industry-leading products for the measurement of level, density, weight and pressure. As the inventor of the...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
