Oil and Gas Exploration in the Context of Global Transition: The South African Case

Abstract

The Operation Phakisa: Oceans Economy Oil and Gas Lab advocates the exploration of marine oil and gas reserves as a means of using marine resources to fast-track the South African economy. While the lab recognises that the direct employment impacts would not be substantial, the indirect economic impacts of oil and gas exploration were desirable, especially at a time when the South African energy grid was becoming increasingly reliant on imported crude oil and gas for power. The dependence of the South African energy grid upon coal has been an area of concern, especially in an era when the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy is required by the Paris Agreement on Climate Change for the control of escalating global warming. This paper discusses the feasibility of South Africa’s oil and gas exploration goals in a time when the country is being called upon to reduce the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission intensity of her energy sector. Central to the discussion is the concept of sustainable development which is entrenched by the South African Constitution, legislation, and case law. In the light of South Africa’s GHG reduction emissions, the increasing importance of the adoption of the precautionary principle, the availability of cheap renewable energy substitutes and the growing wave energy sector, oil and gas exploration is no longer a feasible choice, especially as emerging markets and advanced developing economies increasingly shoulder the burden and responsibility of carrying the costs of the energy transition.