<\/p>\n
Small-scale fishers and environmental organisations were in the Cape High Court on Monday in a bid to halt oil and gas exploration by TotalEnergies along the West Coast.<\/p>\n
The case was brought by the Aukotowa small-scale fishing cooperative from Port Nolloth, The Green Connection, and Natural Justice.<\/p>\n
They have taken the Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources (DMPR), the Minister of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment (DFFE), and TotalEnergies EP South Africa to court to challenge environmental authorisations granted by the DMPR director-general and the environment minister.<\/p>\n
Read: Mantashe wants to ramp up local fuel refining capacity, but has that boat sailed?<\/p>\n
TotalEnergies\u00a0applied for environmental authorisations to drill exploration wells off the West Coast, between Port Nolloth and Saldanha Bay, in the Deep Western Oil Basin, an area covering 30 000km\u00b2.<\/p>\n
The environmental authorisations were granted in October 2023 and upheld on appeal in April 2024.<\/p>\n
In August last year, the Western Cape High Court set aside the\u00a0environmental authorisation for TotalEnergies\u2019 offshore oil and gas exploration project to drill ten wells on the South Coast, between Cape Town and Cape Agulhas.<\/p>\n
Small-scale fishers and environmentalists picketed outside the court on Monday morning to voice their concerns about the impacts of climate change and the impact of exploratory drilling on fishing communities.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe importance of this [court case] is about responsible decision-making and that our government takes decisions that do not exclude community voices,\u201d said Neville van Rooy of The Green Connection\u2019s community outreach programme.<\/p>\n
Read:<\/p>\n
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The matter was heard by a full bench of judges including Judge Mark Sher, Judge Babalwa Mantame and Judge Ncumisa Mayosi.<\/p>\n
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In court, Advocate Peter Hathorn, representing the applicants, said fishing is part of the culture of the Port Nolloth fishers, and they are already experiencing fish stock declines and changes in fish migration habits.<\/p>\n
The applicants\u2019 case rests on four main arguments.<\/p>\n
They say TotalEnergies\u2019 environmental impact assessment (EIA) is flawed because it considered the exploratory phase in isolation from the potential long-term negative impacts of production, which they argue is required by the National Environmental Management Act (Nema).<\/p>\n
They also argue that the risk of an oil spill is underestimated in the impact assessment and cite evidence that the \u201cultra-deep\u201d wells planned increase the risk of an oil spill.<\/p>\n
Read: SA will run out of industrial gas by 2028, putting 70 000 jobs at risk<\/p>\n
They argue that the detrimental socio-economic impact on small-scale fishers in Port Nolloth, a poor West Coast town where fishing is a \u201cpredominant economic activity\u201d, was not adequately addressed.<\/p>\n
They contend that neither the DMPR nor the DFFE minister properly considered the Integrated Coastal Management Act, which is meant to \u201cconserve and protect coastal public property for the benefit of present and future generations\u201d.<\/p>\n
Government response<\/p>\n
In their court papers, the respondents argue that the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA) distinguishes between exploration rights and production rights, and \u201ctreats them as separate and distinct rights with different obligations and requirements\u201d.<\/p>\n
TotalEnergies proposes to drill one exploration well and if it is successful, nine additional wells.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThe question of whether production will be commercially viable would only be determined after various further studies have been completed,\u201d they say.<\/p>\n
They argue the exploration phase itself will not result in the production of oil or gas, and will have no direct influence on South Africa\u2019s reliance on fossil fuels, greenhouse gas emissions or climate change effects.<\/p>\n
They argue that the risk of an oil spill is very small, at about 0.0143% of \u201cglobal likelihood\u201d.<\/p>\n
In the event of an oil spill, they say, TotalEnergies\u2019s EIA report gave \u201cproper consideration\u201d to mitigation measures, such as an oil spill contingency plan, an emergency response plan, and a blowout contingency plan, among others.<\/p>\n
Read:<\/p>\n
Shell appeals South African court ruling halting exploration
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On Tuesday, the matter continued in court and the third respondent, TotalEnergies, made its submissions, represented by advocate Chris Loxton.<\/p>\n
TotalEnergies argued that South Africa could not simply \u201clook the other way\u201d while other countries explored for oil and gas.<\/p>\n
Loxton said the applicants wished for the public and government to remain ignorant of whether South Africa has new sources of energy. \u201cIgnorance has no advantage,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Judgment was reserved.<\/p>\n
\u00a9 2026 GroundUp. This article was first published here.<\/p>\n
#TotalEnergies #court #offshore #oil #gas #drilling<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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