How oil crisis may impact exploration for new energy resources in SA

The Middle East oil crisis has many countries looking for ways to make themselves more energy secure.

CapeTalk's John Maytham asked Lindsey Schutters, Daily Maverick's business writer, what the knowns and unknowns are when it comes to South Africa's exploitable oil and gas.

"TotalEnergies, before they exited in July 2024 from the Outeniqua Basin, off Mossel Bay, proved a billion barrels of oil equivalent."

Schutters said they didn't proceed because developing the deepwater infrastructure to pipe the gas to the now-shuttered Mossel Bay refinery was unviable without sovereign pricing guarantees. "The government wasn't willing to step in with their own money."

Then, Total pivoted to the West Coast to the Orange Basin that we share with Namibia. However, the Western Cape High Court is hearing a challenge to their right to drill there, brought by fishermen and environmentalists.

"We will see what happens there. Since 2022, when zero exploration wells have been drilled on our side, Namibia has drilled 20. So they're surging ahead, and we are lagging, but our environmental regulations are a little bit stricter."

Nuclear is also a consideration, but there are both environmental and cost concerns.

"Because Koeberg is a pressurised water reactor, we have all of the security clearances with the international nuclear agency for that type of reactor, so building anything else is going to be like seven to 12 years' worth of just prototyping and all of those things.

"But we are expanding the Koeberg site, and then we're setting up another site on the east coast. And that should all start to be actioned from next year."