Concerns over oil rush

South Africa is in the grip of a major offshore oil rush, with eight international and two local petroleum companies already active around its coastline.

The Sunday Times last month revealed an application by state oil and gas company PetroSA to start exploring for oil and gas in an 80000km² area off the Cape coast.

Although 21 oil and gas prospecting concessions have been granted off the coast, South Africa does not have a policy to regulate and monitor these firms.

Instead, they monitor themselves through environmental management plans submitted to the government.

The surge in offshore prospecting applications submitted to the Petroleum Agency of South Africa - and those of more than 100 on land - has prompted calls for stricter measures to ensure companies do not damage the environment.

To date companies have drilled 311 offshore wells and conducted 2D seismic surveys across 290000km² of the ocean bed.

The agency has not replied to queries about how many more offshore applications were in the pipeline.

The fishing industry, already excluded from areas in the southern Cape due to PetroSA's offshore gas wells, is fuming.

The upsurge in offshore activity extends all the way along the Southern African coastline, including Namibia, Mozambique and Angola, and stems partly from new technology that allows drilling in deep water.

Companies are scrambling to snap up offshore exploration areas because of a worldwide oil shortage and the depletion of known oil regions such as Angola, which is cluttered with offshore drilling rigs. By comparison, South Africa's coast is relatively empty.

The Department of Environmental Affairs said stricter controls were needed.

"The department is aware of the increase in explorations," said spokesman Zolile Nqayi. "It has identified that there is a need to further develop the coordination for environmental safeguards. To this end the department is drafting an ocean environment policy, which will be open for broader discussion in the 2012 financial year."

Commenting on the PetroSA Cape coast application, Patrick Dowling from the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa said: "Considering the value of this part of the Atlantic and the adjacent coastline from biodiversity, heritage and economic perspectives, we are likely to take an extremely precautionary view of any such proposals."

Some of the concessions already granted include:

• A 50km by 22km block around the Tugela River mouth outside Durban, which is now a shrimp fishing area;
• A similar-sized offshore area from Jeffrey's Bay to east of Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape by two firms - Bayfield Energy and New African Global Energy; and,
• A string of interconnected areas along the West Coast of South Africa, from Alexander Bay to Cape Town, involving heavyweight oil firms like Shell, BHP Billiton, Sasol and PetroSA.

Environmental concerns relate to the threat of oil pollution and the impact of seismic activity, which marine biologists believe is harmful to whales and dolphins.