The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy has welcomed the appeal decision by the Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Barbara Creecy, paving the way for TotalEnergies to proceed with the proposed offshore drilling of exploration wells in the South-West coast of South Africa.
“South Africa is richly endowed with natural resources including oil and gas that have been proven to be game changers elsewhere in the world. The DMRE believes that these resources must be explored, in accordance with the prevailing environmental framework that ensures that licensing is done with the utmost environmental care founded on Section 24 of our Constitution,” DMRE said on Wednesday.