TotalEnergies plans to exit its discoveries of gas-condensate off the tip of South Africa to prioritise exploration in other areas closer to Namibia, according to people familiar with the matter.
South Africa’s purchase of the nation’s largest refinery from Shell Plc and BP Plc for a symbolic rand (five US cents) will transfer the environmental liability of the site to the government, according to a local advocacy group.
‘We have spent the last few months working hard to demonstrate the Company’s ability to generate power from our natural gas at its Amersfoort project in Mpumalanga. We obtained respected, professional engineering and equipment suppliers to support this project and we are absolutely thrilled to have become the pioneers of onshore Gas To Power (GTP) from a local, conventional source, which represents another significant milestone for the Company, establishing it as a proven solution within the energy mix planned to alleviate South Africa’s energy crisis.’
Two environmentalist groups have challenged in court French oil major TotalEnergies’ plans to drill five wells offshore South Africa.
TotalEnergies acquired a 33% stake in an exploration block offshore South Africa earlier in March.
Despite the apparent risks, TotalEnergies and QatarEnergy are moving ahead with their exploration effort off the South-African coast.
A World Bank blog makes the case for green hydrogen becoming a major economic driver for the economy.
South Africa is preparing to appoint a new chief executive officer of state oil and gas company PetroSA, ending a more than yearlong leadership vacuum, Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe said.
TotalEnergies has received government approval for drilling in South Africa’s Orange Basin, a key part of the company’s plans in the country.
Environmental groups have been resisting TotalEnergies’ efforts due to concerns about the impact on marine life and the risk of oil spills.
TotalEnergies has strategically shifted its focus in the country from downstream activities and is now fully focused on its upstream operations.
On 9 December, people across the country united in local actions against oil and gas exploration and drilling off South Africa’s coastline. Multinational corporations – including Shell, QatarEnergy, Total Energies and contractors such as CGG and Searcher Seismic – are amongst the focal points of this latest public outrage. According to Liziwe McDaid, Strategic Lead at The Green Connection (one of the civil society organisations that got in on the action), “Recent decisions by government to authorise seismic surveys in the Algoa/Outeniqua Basin off the Southeast Coast of South Africa and also off the West Coast, in addition to decision to reject the environmental appeal against oil and gas exploration, from Gansbaai on the South Coast to Doring Baai on the West Coast, has been the catalyst for these actions.”
Total Energies Marketing South Africa is divesting its 36.36 percent minority stake in National Petroleum Refiners of South Africa (Natref) to the Prax Group.
Since the discovery of oil in commercial quantities in 2007, Ghana’s petroleum industry has witnessed remarkable growth.